Regarding climbing accidents in North America, as I understand it, equipment failure is never the single cause of a death, it takes equipment failure and psychological failure, or a string of failures to kill ya. When the mud hits the fan, stopping and calmly assessing things will most likely prevent an accident, and I firmly believe that many people die because of civilisation related things like I have to get home or I'll miss the big game, or a days work, or my kids socker game. We don't have the patience required to take mother nature on her own terms.
I understnad many climbing fatalities happen when the rope just doesn't quite reach the next belay anchor so people simply untie and step off. All those slings around your shoulder are there for a reason, if people just thought about it a bit longer before acting.
Jim just my $.03 worth