Yeah. It's a weakness of mine
I do use the hoods when standing on a hill, virtually all the time. I'll use them when rolling away from a stop sign or red light, or even the start of a race, when it's better for me to be able to look around. I generally avoid the hoods on flatter roads. I don't know when I'd ever use them on a descent.
I think not using the drops is the most basic mistake that newer racers make. I've never seen someone lose control or otherwise compromise their bike control, at least in a crit or a group ride, on the drops. I have seen really good riders on the hoods break bones, in part because they were on the hoods and weren't able to handle the situation in front of them. The recent one that sticks in my mind is the now 5 time JR national champ that lives in the same town as me. We were both behind a guy that rolled a rear tire. He collected the other guy's bike because he couldn't turn or brake enough. The Junior broke his collarbone. He has won cross and crit titles so he's a good bike handler. However a good bike handler in a compromised position isn't as good a bike handler as he can be. (The JR's bike bounced off my neck but I was otherwise fine, I didn't run over anything or crash).
Another guy, with less impressive credentials, laid his bike over, no mechanical cause, directly in front of me going into the last turn of the New London Crit. It's a hairpin off of a one lane downhill into a two lane uphill. I avoided him, had to shift down a couple gears, and got going a bit later than I wanted. The other guy was on the deck, he lost the front wheel and slid out, probably because he hadn't weighed it enough, probably because he was on the hoods. I think if he was on the drops he'd have made it through the turn. I know that if I was on the hoods I'd have been on the ground next to him. As far as I know the guy didn't break anything. His teammate I think is on BF and said that "he's a good rider". Yeah, when he's not on the deck.
Even someone here, I don't remember who (Ex?), commented on a clip of a guy losing control after hitting a hidden pothole (it was under a stream of water so you couldn't tell it was there). The comment was something like "well he's a national class rider" meaning "give the guy a break". My response was "well, I can beat him if he has a broken collarbone". He was on the hoods, he lost a hand over one of the hoods, and hit the deck really hard. Why wasn't the rider in a generally accepted good hand position for a descent?
It baffles me to see good riders in compromising positions on the bike. In fact in races I often hold the tops instead of the hoods. It's clear exactly what I can and can't do on the tops, so even if I'm in the field, if I feel the need to do whatever, I'll put my hands on the tops. At least I'm not fooling myself into thinking I can brake really hard or something.
For me I try to do the best thing for a given situation, and I try to approach each situation the same way. If I have any doubts about what's going on around me I'm on the drops. If I don't know if I have any doubts, I'm on the drops. This way if something ridiculous happens I'll be in a position to respond. If I'm on the hoods or tops I'm in a compromised position.
So that's my soapbox/rant for today