I was with you BigMikey at first, I thought it looked bad and was completely unnecessary, but I could live with it. I have two marlins with the crossbolt safeties and figured I'd keep them on fire and just ignore them. Until one day calling coyotes I had a coyote roll up on me at like 40 yards, leveled on him for the easy shot and...CLICK! Confused, I worked the action and tried again... CLICK! I tried a third time as he trotted away just as confused as I was. I finally figured out what happened, somehow the safety had been knocked on.
A coyotes is one thing but the first time it happens on an elk I'm gonna be livid. The worst part is that it's totally worthless. The half cock is a perfectly adequate safety and perfectly safe for any non-moron. I've safely let down lever hammers since I was maybe 6-8 years old and I've never had an issue. Not once. And if I did, the rifle would be pointed in a safe direction to begin with. As far as the issue with a scoped levergun goes, the hammer spur is the appropriate solution.
So to recap:
1. Worthless
2. Ugly
3. Hindering
The crossbolt safety is as useful and tits on a bull/boar/nun etc.