I see your point BOAC. I was thinking of the wider issue - off the top of my head, all the 'type 3' traps (i prefer not to categorise either - but it makes it more readable on this thread if we do!) rely on a human factor and if the entire system is broken, then what value those checks and criteria?
Anyway before we get too much into the self flaggelation lets not forget that for all its faults the aviation safety model is still amongst the best in the world. I don't know off the top of my head the number of fatalities annualy in the world but its in the medium / high hundreds if that.
I could have an accident tomorrow (3000 deaths on the road in the UK every year) go to a hospital and get sliced open by a doctor who went to a med school decades ago, possibly anywhere in the world, and has minimal requirements to do any form of ongoing training, education or checking, has no restriction on his duty hours and is largely unnacountable for his errors. over 10,000 'avoidable' deaths occur in uk hospitals every year under this safety model.
So lets no throw the baby out with the bath water and recognise that, largely, we have a great and durable safety regime. Yes we can tinker and improve it, but lets not ruin it in the process.