Absolutely, however a few examples of what “they” did are not necessarily safer. Though we can judge and discriminate about the decisions made, the only people that truly know how close the edge they really are are those in the front seats, and those with the value of hindsight.
To say everything we do as mortals should be safety first would be akin to never getting off the ground in the first place. Aviation as a system is a managed risk. Crossing the road is a managed risk. Telling your wife to calm down, a mismanaged risk.
Following the rules and legal requirements are purely for the strick following of the uninformed , and for the guidance of wise men. I believe that is what you are getting at. As with a lot of these accidents, it’s the decision making that lets the system down.