Interesting question - are there any hard statistics for this?
One way of solving the asymmetric problem is to close all the throttles! Ok you become a glider then but at least you are under control!
One thing the BA777 at LHR proved is that if you are going to crash then keep the wings level and don 't stall!
Your question only considers the take off situation. There are other occasions where it's nice to have two engines - flight over water or inhospitable terrain and/or night or IMC!
Reminds me of the definition of the ideal a/c when the engineer taps the captain on the shoulder to tell him "We've lost number 4" - the Captain replies "Which side?"
Ok yes light twins can be challenging but on balance I would rather have another engine. There are also aspects such as having 2 alternators and 2 vacuum pumps which mean more redundancy.
It would be interesting to know how many accidents have been prevented because the type was a light twin and not a single.