Or am I a little old fashioned?
I do think the 'knights in shining armor and their cantankerous machines' view of pilots and planes is 80 years out of date. In the US, light aircraft are a (relatively reliable) part of the transport system, flown by normal people to do normal things in normal places. If an aircraft is forced to land, the expectation is that the pilot will do his best in whatever circumstances arise. No different than if the steering system on a car fails and it heads off in an unintended direction. In that case, the driver does what he can, those affected do what they can, and the risk is accepted by everybody as part of normal life.
In the US, I was instructed to view roads as one resource to consider in a forced landing situation. In some place like the L.A. basin it might well be the only resource that the infrastructure allows. There are also water drainage culverts and gold courses here and there, but roads are often the best bet.