It's pretty normal to have open water around the edges when there's good ice. It's very common for experienced ice recreation folk to bring a plank or ladder to access ice. There's a lot more nuance to each day, time of day, and body of ice for calculating risk, and that's very likely going on for a lot of folks that you might see on the ice. Check out the various local ice recreation groups social media, you'll probably feel a little better about humanity.