I fully understand that unintentional release is a problem, hence tying activation to the deployment of the airbag. I don't believe it's a problem to get the athletes to buy into it once the system is tested, it simply has to be mandatory. There are mandatory safety elements to most sports.
As noted above: not all athletes are wearing the airbag systems, and they've proven inexact in their execution. They can - and do - misfire or not fire at all.
And having an inadvertent binding release is far more dangerous for these athletes, especially at speed. Again, Lie's issue was that her skis crossed after her spin, and whether or not her binding released is a purely academic exercise.
@hbear is correct: most coaches teach athletes to "turtle slide" and get their skis off the snow, letting the B-nets and "Willy bags" do the slowing and stopping.
As for the gates, since its a two pole gate, the interior pole could be supported more by the outer pole, while allowing more of a break away function. The poles being displaced by normal passage of the skier is dependent on how much pressure is required to cause the breakaway. This could certainly help to prevent hooking injuries.
The gate flag attachment mechanism is something that's been updated a few times over the past decade. In speed events the breakaway mechanism for flags is a lot more prone to release now than it was in 2015 when Bode had his crash at Beaver Creek. But to make the gate pole more prone to release would make the "Race Interrupted" delays far more frequent and be a nightmare for the local organizing committee (LOC) to keep the course in good shape.
These kinds crashes are the exception, to be frank. And no, the gate setups aren't perfect for every incident. Gate designs will continue to evolve over time. Sadly, pilot error will always be a factor and hopefully the designs of gates, panels, and other course markings will evolve to strike a better balance of function, durability, and safety.
Shin guards would certainly help. I understand their use/purpose in slalom but there's no reason they or stronger versions could not be used to prevent or mitigate injury . If arm guards are effective enough to be used there's no reason shin guards could not do the same.
Arm guards aren't used to prevent broken arms. They're used to prevent impact bruising - full stop. They may prevent some stress fractures but if you notice how most athletes use said guards they hit the gate at an angle where the gate pole slides away rather than hit at a right angle.
And a shin guard makes
zero sense in my mind. For it to be effective it would need to attach to the boot via some means - something the slalom ones do not, and on purpose as you don't want armor to interfere with the boot function and interface with the ski. To wit: remember the tall boots movement in the late 70s/early 80s? Sure, more tib-fib breaks at the boot top were prevented, but at the expense of every ligament in the knee, the tibial plateau,
et al. This is all pushing the deck chairs around on the Titanic: it means well, but it won't prevent debilitating injuries.
Additionally, these bits of armor (which are all worn outside the race suit by regulation) slide easily, and part of the equipment homologation of race suits is that they have enough permeability to not slide
too efficiently and thus send an athlete accelerating after a crash.
Back to the "there are mandatory safety elements to most sports" line:
@Rod MacDonald, I encourage you to read the FIS safety and ski equipment homologation rules to get an idea of how much thought is put into the construction, function, and placement of equipment, from skis to armor, gate flags to nets, the whole lot. It's not perfect, but there's a lot of thought put into these things. Sadly many of the big changes have been brought about by tragedy but there are reasons behind things like not having binding release tied to a still-in-development technology like airbags.
Just my $0.02 as a person who has been knee (neck?) deep in the alpine racing world for decades and continues to ponder the safety aspects every day I'm around a race or training course...