No your reasoning is way off. I map to ctrl rather than escape because I want to make use of the Insert and Ex mode ctrl shortcuts. For example, if I want to

No your reasoning is way off. I map to ctrl rather than escape because I want to make use of the Insert and Ex mode ctrl shortcuts. For example, if I want to insert a register into the ex mode command line I use ctr-r <register>. Or if I want to pop out of insert mode for a single command I use ctr-o. E.g. inserting opening and closing tags when a suitable plugin isn't present. Insert the opening and closing tag, jump back to command mode with ctrl-o, move backwards and you're ready to insert more text.