Guess I've been lucky. I have a computerized machine AND I sew over pins all the time. Now granted, I do tend to slow down when I get to them but I still sew over them. Rarely have I broken a needle doing this. And I've never hit one so hard that I've messed up the timing on my machine. As I said, guess I'm lucky. But I like things to stay where I put them till I'm finished sewing, thus the pins.