"There are some platforms (such as embedded systems) where C really is the only choice. " That's never true. You can always use a higher-level, safer language

"There are some platforms (such as embedded systems) where C really is the only choice. " That's never true. You can always use a higher-level, safer language that can compile to C. The result is C code but you never write it & avoid its pitfalls. Ivory language in Haskell, Ada-to-C, and Modula-2-to-C come to mind. Alternatively, you can use something even more primitive in a C subset or native assembly that it compiles to. OcaPIC or JavaCard come to mind. Astrobe Oberon is another for safe, low-level coding but not sure how its compiler works.