Surely many or most of those aircraft could have been
flown to a safe landing.

Perhaps. I do suspect that if an aircraft has a BRS, then it probably
does leap inappropriately to the top of your emergency what-do-I-do
option list at times.

But if I were to suddenly have a stroke or heart attack, and feared
that I would (as others have) die before getting to a safe landing
zone... then sure, the BRS becomes a valid option to prevent injury to
yourself or others on the ground. Especially (tho not in this case) if
I had family or other non-pilots aboard.

Cheers,
Kev