Please do not make comparisons with seat belts and airbags. The probability of having an accident on the roads is far higher than foundering at sea in a yacht, and you might have no control because somebody else causes the accident. Both measures are proven life savers, many times over, every day of the week.
And why do you talk about swimming a mile to shore in an unexpected force 7? This is not the circumstances in which yachts founder and liferafts are deployed.