Originally Posted by
caloso
Maybe I'm not seeing this because I've always used drops and perhaps you use a flat or cruiser bar? In the drops, my thumbs wrap on the inside of the curve, my fingers reach around the outside and grab the brake levers. On the hoods, same thing except that I'm reaching top down. In neither case is the brake lever between my hands and the bars. I don't think I have exceptionally long fingers and I just have standard levers (Shimano STI on my geared bike, Cane Creek levers on the FG)
On flat bars if the levers are set up correctly then you can get your index and or middle fingers over the lever. There are reach adjusters on the vast majority of levers on the market these days. Your wheel needs to be true and your brakes need to be tuned and tight enough that you don't end up hitting your fingers that are still on the bar when you brake hard.
Basically the OP doesn't have their bike adjusted correctly and or doesn't know how to use it appropriately and has therefore decided that hand brakes are dangerous.