I'm really suprised that so many people have problems with clipless pedals.
My old roadbike has got the original look pedals and my new one Campy Chorus pro fit pedals. Never had any problems with them. Just think that you need to twist to unclip and unclipping will come very natural. Before that I had the traditional toe clips and that's a completely different story. I would even consider them dangerous in ordianry traffic: you can't even unclip quickly in emergency situations.

Re-engaging the pedals on the other hand takes some practice and it can take some time to become proficient in this technique, but if you don't enter races with a fast start, that shouldn't be a problem either.
I've never used any SPD or similar system, so I dont know how easy these are to unclip from

Just think 'twist' instead of 'pull' and it will all come very quickly

Niek