After the sinking of the Titanic, maritime laws and safety standards changed.
Marc Isaacs, a Toronto-based maritime lawyer, said the sinking acted as a
catalyst to speed up the process of changing maritime safety standards.
"My sense of it is that movement to change laws was already in progress," he
said. "Titanic happened at a particular period of time when we were moving out
of ships of sail and into ships of steel. We were also moving out of a time of
navigating by atmospheric instruments to beginning to navigate using more
electronic instruments and better technology.
"The sinking wasn't necessarily the wake-up call, but it was a big momentous
event that reminded people safety had to be dealt with."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/titanic/story/2012/04/05/f-titanic-maritime-safety-video.html
Ice patrols in the North Atlantic Ocean became more frequent; more strick rules on on-board radios were introduced, which requires crew to man them at all times; lifeboat drills became mandatory; also, in 1914, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, was created.