I can not help but think that maybe this 178 seconds is a bit of a misnomer.
If I asked here how many people have had VFR into IMC experiences when they weren't qualified for IMC conditions and walked away to tell the tale, you might find that the number is very high.
This includes flying through a hole and accidentally hitting cloud before breaking through the top.... seeing blue sky above the cloud and thinking it might be easy just to punch up there because it's not that thick... flying too close to the cloud up from under it and ending up in it... not finding a hole and descending through the cloud.
I would make an educated guess based on my knowledge and having spoken to many pilots over the years that the instances of survival far outweigh the opposite.
My assumption is that the busting through a bit of cloud takes no skill at all. You are not actually flying in IMC, rather the flight path vector takes the plane through the cloud before turbulence and pilot input have any real effect on its overall stability.
If however the pilot spends a minute busting through a patch and is bounced around a fair bit and decides to turn back to get out of the cloud, that is when they need good instrument skills (and not panic) or they will ultimately prove the 178 seconds theory.
I am pretty sure 178 seconds was an average time, some took a lot longer to lose it and some a lot less. Who cares. If you are not current and competent you may be just as dead in however many seconds.