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The editors of Motorcycle Safety News have pretty much summed up the chaotic and bizarre sense of safety Americans feel toward their bikes.
There are ATGATTers, all the gear, all the time, and folks who are half-helmets and t-shirts and folks who just get on the bike and ride whether they have shorts or slacks.
http://motorcyclesafetynews.com/?p=712
I started out with leather jacket, slacks, boots, full-face helmet and gloves. In a few years I went to t-shirt (or dress shirt and tie when riding to work. The tie was a special safety feature that would allow me to be hanged should I drop my Harley and get it wrapped around something) and police helmet.
Then came the full face. Then came the full face and jacket. Then came the full face, jacket and overpants.
The older I've gotten and the more I drive in traffic, the more cell phones and texting took over, the more serious I've become about safety.
Sometimes I ride without the overpants, but most times they're on. I nearly never ride without some sort of padded jacket plucked from the padded closet in my padded room.
I don't wheelie. I don't lane split. I don't ride faster than I feel safe, although I've been known to push my own limits on occasion.
What's safe for me is ridiculous for some people, of course. What's safe for me may also be dangerous for others.
It's up to you. You know what risk you're willing to take and you know the consequences.
Use your best judgment but remember, there's no guarantee the cagers are using theirs.