There's many reasons why air travel is so safe - fly-by-wire, GPS, collision avoidance systems, improvements in aerospace engineering and design are all contributors. Regulation is only part of the reason it is not "the" reason.
The FAA's issuing of new safety regulations has historically been reactionary, they are generally enacted in response to an accident or specific incident. It is actually only very recently that they have shifted from a reactive event based system to a proactive form of risk management.