Ultimately the goal of riding is finishing the ride safely. The type of ride has no impact on this fundamental goal. A spirited ride through the twisties followed by a beer on the patio with some friends, or a hum drum commute the most important part of the ride is safe arrival at the end. Around the community, more often than not we see and hear this concept addressed in all the wrong ways.
More often than not, we see the mantra about All The Gear All The Time. While gear is good, it doesn't do much for the ride, it's is there to protect you when you fail at riding. What I am talking about are the actions that need to be taken to not fall, and reduce the risk of failure. Unfortunately, if you spend much time in many of the online forums, or at at bike nights you hear all kinds of things about how people stay safe. Unfortunately, they are almost all justifications for bad riding habits, or just plain crazy.
Really, safe riding boils down to a few things;
1. Slow Down if you are traveling slower, you have more time and higher chance of avoiding a crash than if you are traveling fast. There really isn't an argument here, this is math. The faster you are traveling the less time you have from the time you 'see' something until you are 'on' something.
2. Be Prepared like a Boy Scout. If you don't already have a plan for the worst case choices of the drivers, and environment around you, then you have less time to execute a plan when the need arises. Planning ahead and preparing for what could happen means that your response are ready that much faster.
3. They Don't See You even when they do. Drivers, pedestrians, animals, falling trees. They aren't looking for you, they aren't looking at you, they won't avoid you, that's YOUR job. Much like be prepared, if you plan your actions assuming that you are not be seen, you won't put yourself in a situation where you are lying on the ground having someone saying something along the lines of "I never saw him there!".
The problems come in when you start saying things like:
"I've got a really loud horn" relying on a noise maker as a responsive device to notify someone of your presences is pretty much a waste of time and effort. By the time you react, hit your horn, the sound travels to the intended target, the target registers the sound, sees their mistake and makes the appropriate adjustments, it it likely already too late. If it isn't too late, the odds are, had you been properly prepared, or traveling at an appropriate speed, you probably didn't need the horn.
"I've got really loud pipes" uggh, I don't even want to go here.
"Just go faster than everyone else" is probably fine and dandy, on a limited access highway where everyone is going in the same direction and there is no risk of animals, trash, rocks, or ladders falling off of vehicles traveling the same road with you.
"I ride defensively aggressive" which translates roughly to "I ride like an asshat, follow no laws but my own and when I screw up, I'll blame someone else". Not much more needs to be said there.
Then there is my personal favorite: the guys that have a litany of "near miss" stories, and stories about their "accidents".
At the end of the day, the art of getting there comes down to not putting yourself in situations that place you at risk.
Once you've made the decision to do this, riding becomes less like russian roulette and more like a relaxing walk on the beach. Classes like the MSF BRC and it's experienced rider siblings are good additions to the skill sets. Books can provide good information, and there are some great blogs out there that you can read to improve your skills and preparation. One of the newer one's is http://scootsafely.com/