The 1500 hour rule didn’t improve safety, and, in fact was applied as supposed remedy in response to a pilot-error caused crash in which the pilot had well more than the 1500 hours of flight time.
That’s hard to assess on an individual level, especially with how rare crashes are today; confidently stating it did nothing is hard to support. On a collective level, the impact of the entire set of regulations on safety is very clear.
> was applied as supposed remedy
No. The post-Buffalo changes included some direct changes like the rules on pilot fatigue. They also included some proactive changes like the 1500 rule.
We don’t have to wait for a crash to make things safer.