Surely an ATCO is exactly that an ATCo whether on ground or in the air a pilot would be taking an immense legal risk by ignoring what that say since it is an instruction.
I know TCAS is in the picture now but not for light aircraft so would some of the people here who say well i wouldn't listen to the ATCo ignore a call of ABC 123 immediate right turn to XXX degrees traffic just say -well I can't see anyone so Ill just carry on.
As has been proven many times flight deck windows do not give the greatest view in the world and on take off I imagine one set of eyes are focussed inside and the others s very much straight down the runway ahead and have nothing like the view from the tower of potential hazards just outside the pilots field of vision.
I kow RTOs are tricky at high speed but as a view from the back I would prefer to stop with smoking brakes even evacuation than have the pilot press on into
Animals running onto runway
vehicles on runway
helicopters wandering off an orbit near the flight path
erring light aircraft
flocks of big birds
drone incursions
etc etc