Is there really anything easier to do? If you're disabling the default event, you're doing it to provide some other functionality, which is necessarily going to involve writing a function to attach to a handler, and adding event.preventDefault() at the top is about as easy as it gets. Anything easier would involve eliminating the attached handler, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
Also, .preventDefault() wasn't obscure in the jQuery era; if it's obscure now that's a sad commentary.
Also, .preventDefault() wasn't obscure in the jQuery era; if it's obscure now that's a sad commentary.