good god you ****ers are good at attacking strawmen. I never said that there was no reason to use clips and straps. I agree with the OPs analysis of the pluses and minuses of clips and straps. Saying that you just need to develop "good pedal technique" is flat out wrong. The technique your talking about is really really inefficient.

Ok maybe not all roadies switched... There are still some beginers that don;t use them and a very very small number of old fogies that use slotted cleats still. These people however don't ride much. I think I can safely say that all serious roadies, all most all track racers(they use cleats anyway) and mtbers, have switched away from clips. Further all but a couple of the messengers and really talented, experienced fixie riders I know use clipless so apparently clips are not the rule there either. And yes there are some exceptions but I'm willing to bet that even amongst all fixie riders there are far more people who have switched from clips to clipless and rather then the opposite.

Even if it that wasn't the case though messengers are a cliqueish, machismo ridden bunch and they don't always choose the most practicle option.

let me reiterate the +/-es of clips and straps with soft soled shoes

+very predictable release unless a strap breaks(pretty uncommon with well cared for straps but unpredictable release in clipless with unworn cleats is too)
+can wear comfortable every day shoes
+such shoes don't look ridiculous
-cannot pull up as hard on the pedals
-cannot push down as hard on the pedals
-if shoes don't have smooth soles or strap is really cranked down to avoid the above two problems it's hard to get the foot out in emergencies.

So yes there are advantages and these advantages probably appeal more to fixie riders due to both what they generally use their bkes for and the changing priorities that the lack of friction brakes cause. However they do have serious drawbacks as well.