The thing is, helicopters are extremely easy to crash, sometimes startlingly so (for those who've done it). Before you know it, you're in the "accident zone," it's too late to stop it and parts start a-flyin'.
Those of us who learned to fly underpowered helicopters (or helicopters with weak tail rotors) would never make a hover-turn in the opposite direction of the power pedal. Medication helps, but I still have not-so-fond memories of Bell 47D's with 200 h.p. Franklins, and early A-model Enstroms. Egad! Just mentioning their names makes me twitch.
Paco refers to a specific advanced technique that some of us do use- and that is to unload the tail rotor during the take-off. This works; if you don't mind being cocked off to the side a little (okay, a lot), you can recover 5% more torque by simply pressing on the right pedal in a Bell. BUT!...(and this is a big butt) it must be done as the ship passes through ETL. If you're not absolutely, positively sure that you'll have some streamline effect, you better not try it.
Because of terrain or other considerations, the hapless pilot in Steve76's example may have only had one option: a left pedal-turn. It's hard to say without being there. He may have been in a precarious position that required immediate, aggressive and knowlegeable action, but he waffled at the last minute and decided to abort when it was already too late. We're left to wonder: Which came first, the right-pedal input to stop the turn, or the decaying MR rpm?
On the other hand, maybe he would have crashed anyway if he had continued the ill-advised take-off. Who knows.
It's my feeling that many of us come extremely close to the edge more often than we're really aware. And while we might think that it's due to our outstanding skill, the difference between us and those who end up in the accident reports owes more to luck or fate or the phase of the moon as anything else.