Beams are hitscan weapons, which means if you immediately release the trigger, they stop firing. No bullet travel.
Slow moving projectiles can be forgiven in this case, because once they're released, that's it. You can't stop them.
That said, your scanner gives you all the information you need to check your surroundings without even looking out of the window.
On top of that, you can actually hear ships that are nearby, and depending on your audio setup (headphones, surround sound, etc), you can tell exactly where they are, and which direction they're going.
(And before you say it, I play on a TV, using TV speakers, and I can tell. Lol)
The ONLY time friendly fire is basically unavoidable, is if your missiles are effected by an ECM, and veer off course and hit something else, or their splash damage triggers an assault bounty. But this is the risk of using guided AOE weapons, and you accept it when you install one.
But, accidents will happen.
There's no denying it, we're all human, and we make mistakes.
I still trigger Assault Bounties occasionally. I just deal with it, I don't dedicate an entire threat to how silly the mechanics are. Lol
I just use the 8~ minutes to go off and rearm and repair, or make a coffee and have a stretch.
There are far more annoying things in ED to complain about.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead