Here's Why Not
If you want safety, ride a Volvo. Ill bet that just about everybody in this forum can describe a situation when they were doing everything right safely and some yahoo ran into them or cut them off, resulting in some sort of personal injury. Cripes, it happened to me once in a parking lot, where some bonehead backed over me when I was standing still!
Since a "not-my-fault" motorcycle accident is a foreseeable event, it is not "safe" to mount a motorcycle that has absolutely no occupant protection. If you want to be safe, dont ride a motorcycle. (And while youre at it, you will be much safer if you avoid all "unnecessary" travel, like pleasure riding or vacations or going down the quickie-mart for a six pack of unsafe alcoholic beverages.)
Risk reduction? Im all for it! Riding schools, track days, developing good "scan" practices, protective equipment, preventative maintenance, etc., etc., etc. I do and recommend all of these things. But frankly, youre safer in a 73 Pinto than you are on a brand new Gixxer. So ride for the pure joy of it, do what you can to reduce the risk to your personal comfort level, and have fun. But dont think that theres any thing "safe" about a motorcycle.
Just ask your mother!