Those same people probably drove to the meeting - a far more dangerous activity. You can't stop me from driving to work because some numpty crashed once. If you are going to use things improperly in any respect then you're asking for trouble.
You really need the proper equipment yep. I used three ESC's with the LiPo and none had protection, but I knew not to run the cells flat. Everyone who buys a LiPo would know that since it tells you clearly. Whether they act on that adivce or not is up to them.
