Risk and reward, at it's finest i would say.
if you want to fly safe, you can do so, just keep spare credits, in case you press engine boost, instead of vertical thrusters, which kind of has happened to me, lol.
when i blew up, i was angry at myself for pressing the wrong button, which is how it should be, i took an action to earn more credits on a haul, and went with it, luckily i keep extra credits for both to buy back the ship and some cargo to ship.
That said i have also saved myself from exploding into the docking bay, after boosting, it really makes the coffee in your blood pump faster through your veins.
i love ED for this, learn by doing, and trial by error.
Elite : Dangerous, once players can interdict others, i am sure it will get a lot more heated, i for one am glad for that, because trade running is easy money right now, and people take insane chances in my opinion, for which i hope they will accept that was their own doing, and not try blame it on the game or something, when their ship is a burning wreckage, after a daunting trade run that went unexpectedly wrong.