Many years ago one of the Flying magazine columnists (probably Peter Garrison) did an excellent, provocative article on external pre-flight checks which was aimed, of course at light aircraft.
He analysed a large number of fatal accidents and identified those where the cause might have been prevented by a better external pre-flight check. IIRC, and these are my words not his, the conclusion was that if all you're interested in in preventing fatal accidents, there are two broad categories of pre-flight check required:
a) ensure that the fuel is not contaminated, that there is sufficient fuel for the flight, and that there is sufficient oil for the flight; and
b) check that the aircraft has nothing attached to the outside that shouldn't be there (e.g. concrete tie-downs, pitot covers)
Beyond that, it's icing on the cake.
Of course the problem, which he pointed out in the article, with such studies of accident causes is that it's impossible to tell the difference between low risk issues, and high risk issues where preventative measures are effective. IOW perhaps we're just doing a really good job of other aspects of external pre-flight checks and there are therefore no accidents. Somehow I doubt that.
I also don't doubt for a moment that transport category aircraft have rather more critical items.