Well for one the code might be running in kernel space, so a null pointer access could very well be fatal. There are also use cases that D supports (e.g. certai

Well for one the code might be running in kernel space, so a null pointer access could very well be fatal. There are also use cases that D supports (e.g. certain bare metal arm targets) where the all-bits-zero pointer is validly addressable and contains Important Stuff. Those protections are there as last ditch safety measures. You shouldn't rely on them .