I wear textile pants on just about every ride on the street, and wear 1-piece leathers on the track. The only time I may not be in full gear is if I'm heading 1/4 mile down the street to the gas station, and even that probably happens 3 or 4 times/year max. Sue me.
But, riding pants won't save your life. IMO, the only safety gear that really makes a difference in terms of life or death in a street accident is the helmet. Every other piece of gear can play a part to help minimize injuries, and the lack of the gear can certainly exacerbate injuries, but leg and knee protection or the lack of it won't save you or kill you. Maybe you bang up your knee pretty badly and gear would have helped. Maybe you get some awful road rash and some great scars to go along with it. But it won't kill you. So if people choose to go without? I'm not terribly concerned. They are the ones who may or may not have a bit more physical therapy or other medical issues to deal with based on their choice of gear.
Given the following two extremes, rider with only helmet who has diligently worked on their riding skills to the point that they've gone hundreds of thousands of miles with zero single-vehicle motorcycle accidents, or ATGATT rider with top-rated head-to-toe safety gear that has put their bike down 3 times in < 10k miles in single-vehicle accidents, my own opinion is the first rider is better & safer motorcyclist. Perhaps in a perfect world, everyone would strive to attain that first rider's skills and also be ATGATT, but it isn't a perfect world. And if it were a perfect world, perhaps we could lobby for no roadway problems like oil/ice/gravel or clueless cars violating our right of way.
