Comment by lambda

But the problem is that there are people who have been coding C++ for 20 years, who never quite got all of these newfangled smart pointer things and just want the "C with classes" parts of C++.

Or you have the cargo cult programmers, who don't know the language very well, so just pick up idioms from random internet postings or from some old part of the codebase that's been working for a while, so it must be a good source of design tips.

Remember, any time you talk about the safety of a language, you have to think about its safety in the hands of a mediocre programmer who's in a hurry to meet a deadline. Because that's where the bulk of the problems slip in; not when people are actively and deliberately coding defensively.