No More Patents Pending

Clever bunch us humans. From the first time a stone age cave dweller saw a log floating past and climbed upon it, we have came up with new and better ways to move ourselves around the planet.
The first of anything is always a source of controversy but the timeline of transport on Wikipedia lists the dates for the firsts: ship, ancient Egypt BC, car 1769, submarine 1775, hot air balloon 1783, train, 1822, airship 1852, bicycle 1861, motorcycle, 1885, aeroplane 1903, helicopter, 1907, jet plane 1939, hovercraft 1956.
The record shows there was a frantic 130 years or so when the inventors had brainstorm after brainstorm and then apart from the hovercraft (the jet plane wasn't really a 'new' type of transport), everything ground to a halt for the past 100 years with the only passenger transport being bigger and better versions of what we already had.
Possibly, everything that could be invented for transport, has been invented and we reached the end of how we can physically move ourselves around in 1956.
There have been people tinkering with jet packs and the idea of teleportation is not just a fantasy of Star Trek fans as the Chinese and American Governments have been researching it for years.
One of the main reasons i can think of that we haven't continually progressed as expected is not through lack of eureka moments from inventors or because we have reached the limit of known physics, it is because inventing new modes of transport is dangerous.
For every one of the above mode of transports listed, lots and lots of people ended up a mangled mess before lessons were learnt and each generation was made a little better and a little safer until we reached the stage we are at now.
Take the aeroplane as an example. Generation after generation tried and failed to create a flying machine and the Wright brothers were fortunate enough to have centuries of previous failed attempts by others to hone their own machine.
Imagine if the car had not been invented and someone suddenly came up with the idea today of a small, metal box that carried gallons of highly inflammable liquid and can travel at over 100 mph. The idea would be drowned at birth by the Health and Safety officials.
Not that i am suggesting i want to see hundreds of people risking their lives just to perfect a new mode of transport so i can get from A to B quicker, just suggesting that the leaps and bounds of the late 18th to the early 20th Centuries will never be repeated due to the Health and Safety regulations preventing it which is a good thing. Isn't it?