I am admittedly a D novice. I would choose it over C in a heartbeat for most things. However, with how good Rust has become, it's hard for me consider D for anything. Rust is a fantastic C/C++ replacement IMO, and I'm hugely invested in C++.
Some people bristle at any restriction on their freedom of action (which psychologists sometimes call "trait reactivity") whereas some people are OK with a restriction if there are practical benefits.
There are other languages who achieve the same goal (C-like performance, controlled latency, memory safety) by less intrusive means. E.g. Nim, or D. So yes, I am perhaps one of those “some people”, if there are other ways to safety, I prefer my freedom of action unconstrained.
I would call this phenomenon "cowboy development". Why would you fight borrow checker when you can employ your users to flush out crashes and undefined behavior?
