In the three coaches (1 gas, 2 DP) with slides that I've had, not one matches your criticism.
The hassle is when the slide topper gets pinched in above the slide like what happened to my neighbor when leaving the FMCA regional rally last fall, or when slides fail to retract for any number of other reasons, or worse yet fail to stop extending and falls out the side of a coach.
I had one slide that once failed to extend, due to a broken shear pin. But there are manual means of retraction if it happens when extended. As to falling out the side of the coach? Wow! I don't think the mechanism in any of the three would push them that far. And there are locks both retracted and extended.
limit the drivers ability to look back over their shoulder (left or right)
The slides aren't the limitation there, for any of the three -- it's the height of the coach and the window location, not to mention that the rear view mirrors give me a better view than I can get in a car or pickup, even looking over my shoulder. Add in the rear view camera...
Then there are the lyouts where slides must be extended to effectively use the coach
None of my three had that problem, though it gets snug in some spots.
may prevent pulling off on a travel day to fix lunch in a rest area
None of my three has had that limitation because of slides, though coach length sometimes intrudes.
Slides detract from the ability to access cargo compartments, they add considerable weight to a chassis, and therefore may reduce cargo carrying capacity.
With the slides deployed some cargo compartments are more awkward to access, but far from inaccessible -- but with the slides retracted there is no problem at all. And all three have more cargo capacity than I can use, in terms of weight. Once in a while I can't fit something in, but that's not the fault of the slides.
If you don't want slides, that's fine, but don't knock them for the wrong reasons.