Dubaian
Am I in a minority of one in thinking that life jacket demos (or videos) are pretty much useless for large aircraft on scheduled services? How many incidents can you recall where passengers did don jackets as instructed and did it made any difference to survivability?
The topic has been aired in here before, I think. Whilst I agree with you - no regulator is going to change that. Regulators are subject to politicians, at some point. Try to persuade a politician to remove a 'protection' will have them worried that the family of the next person to really need a life-jacket will be in court faster than to the hospital.
The same goes for removing shoes at security because one man once failed to bring a working bomb on board in his shoes. [I sit to be corrected]