It's pretty common advice. I think Jeff Cooper even advised something like that. IIRC, there was a time when the Gunsite Service Pistol 1911 had a safety with the lever at the bottom of the plate instead of the top, where it normally is, to accomodate it.





There was even a safety lever with a shield attached so you could ride the thumb safety without your thumb contacting the slide.



FWIW, when I shot my 1911s back in the 90s, I used a Weaver stance with a thumb-over-thumb grip, meaning my right thumb swiped off the safety before resting underneath. I never had a problem with the safety engaging unintentionally, but I was also using the standard Colt thumb safety and not one of the extended/oversized ones.

I have not shot my 1911s since I switched to more of an Isoceles stance with the thumbs forward grip, but in my dry fire experiments I can swipe off the safety, ride the lever, and keep my thumb away from the slide, and that's with the standard Colt safety. Though my right thumb does rest more on the base of my left thumb than the safety. Don't know if I can do that with live fire practice, but I will give it a try when (if?) I can get to the range with my 1911s.

Can't comment on the M&P and Shield levers as I've never handled them.

With all that said, if you haven't had an issue with it, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You could just keep doing what works for you. But I don't think it would hurt (much! ) to experiment if you wanted to try it. Start with dry fire practice and see how your thumb interacts with the slide while riding the lever. Maybe rack the slide with your free hand to see if it would actually contact your thumb or not. If you can do that without the slide touching your thumb, then try it at the range.

Just my opinion.

Edit: Just a quick note. Some people who use a thumbs forward or thumb riding the thumb safety grip may have difficulty disengaging the grip safety. That's why a lot of the beavertail grip safeties have that bump on the bottom, to make sure the grip safety disengages. But it's user dependent. I don't have a problem disengaging the bump-less grip safeties on my 1911s with this grip. Just something else to consider.