Don't personally like the split alternative as much. Neither approach here really do much to verify the data, but the regex is at least a bit more strict. So the regex fails to match for a string like "foo bar, baz" but the split passes it along as a valid date.
Obviously if verification of valid dates is required to prevent something like "Feb 99, 0000" for instance, then a module of some sort would probably be the best approach. (Although I can't suggest a particular module off the top of my head)
