This is an important operational (technical) subject.
Consideration of gusts in the decision to land, and as a contributor in many runway excursion accidents, is an important airmanship issue. Gusts may ignored for planning, but this should not absolve pilots from considering a forecast of gusts before flight; we cannot hide behind the rules – accidents/incidents can always find errors of judgment.
When deciding to land in a crosswind with a steady component at or near the demonstrated limit, a pilot is unlikely to have knowledge of what magnitude / duration of gust it would take to exceed the absolute limit – the ability to retain control of the aircraft.
Note the errors in reporting wind speed in the link below. Also, think about wet runways.
“Crosswind Certification - How does it affect you?”
Safety aspects of aircraft performance on wet and contaminated runways.
“How Good Pilots Make Bad Decisions.”
EDIT new link for How Good Pilots Make Bad Decisions, via Google
http://uk.geocities.com/[email protected]_ISAP_162.pdf