But also understand in the end, it boils down to luck. Make no mistake this is a very dangerous sport. Which is why I say I rather be lucky than skilled.
While we're pretty much on the same side in this discussion, I take exception to the above comment.
Riding a motorcycle, or doing any other activity which involves risk of major injury or death as a result of an error in judgement, is a matter of "risk management".
We know that a good 50% of all fatal motorcycle crashes are the result of excessive speed and/or alchohol consumption. Don't drink and ride, and keep your speed to a reasonable level, and you've doubled your chances of survival.
There are numerous other factors (most of which are addressed by the MSF training), that will improve your odds of not crashing. The risks can't be managed 100% for any activity, but the accumulation of all the risk management techniques will reduce the effective risk to close enough to zero that a good rider who excersizes good judgement can ride without fear of crashing.
You may actually have a greater risk of slipping in the shower and hitting your head than you do of crashing your motorcycle, provided you excersize every risk management trick and technique available.
I've already mentioned once in this thread that I have several good friends who I ride with regularly who have never crashed on a public road, most of these guys have been riding since the early 70's, and none of them has less than 20 years experience.
Luck is primarily a factor for inexperienced riders. I was very lucky to have survived the four crashes I was involved in during the first 10 years of my -as of this summer- 40 year riding career. After that, it was a combination of acquired skill, experience, and reasonably good judgement. I've been in countless situations since my last crash which as a new rider, I wouldn't have been able to ride out of. This wasn't luck; in situations involving cars, I was able to anticipate a bonehead move, and was ready for it; in situations involving road conditions (water, dirt, obstacles, animals) I was riding with enough of a safety margin to spot the thread and avoid it. Luck had nothing to do with any of those.
I can't say luck never played a part, but I can say that if it was entirely due to luck, I must be one of the luckiest people around, and most of my riding friends (who all have similar no-recent-crash records to me) must also be lucky.