I did notice the "laid it down" line in the OP. Why can't people just admit that they fell from loss of control rather than trying a "loud pipes save lives" type fallacy to explain why they did something?
I can't say I disagree entirely with that statement, but since this is a crashing thread let me tell you about my one experience with "laying it down". Given my familiarity with crashing, I have a fairly good knowledge of how far a body with proper protective equipment slides or tumbles after hitting the ground at various speeds. Having practiced emergency stopping many times, I know what a locking front wheel feels like. The one thing I don't have much experience with is how far does a fully locked front wheel slide before the bike finally stops at various speeds, or how much distance elapses when you unlock the front and reapply the brakes.
So here's my scenario, I was traveling about 40-45 mph when a Toyota truck pulled out of a parking lot directly into my path. I had no way to go around him, I had to slam on the brakes, which I did. This was on a FZR1000, which had very good brakes, so I slowed down fairly quickly. But the available stopping distance was short. It all happens in slow motion, but I had enough time to think. As I approached his front door, traveling at maybe 10mph, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stop without impacting the truck. I also wasn't sure if my front tire was going to lock up before I was fully stopped, if that happened I know I'd have run into him. I was sure that if I bailed off at that speed, at that distance (8-10 ft or so), I wouldn't impact the truck. So at that point I turned the bars full lock and lost the front. I bounced a couple of feet, and the bike slid under the back of the truck. I got up, retrieved the bike, pushed it into the parking lot, and collected his insurance info.
So, I "laid it down" and was happy with the result. I chose that option because it was the only option that I knew I could predict the result. I knew it was his fault, so trying to avoid doing damage to the bike was of no concern.
I get what you're saying about some riders being able to stop in time, but due to lack of skill they do the wrong thing and cause a crash that could have been avoided, that wasn't the case this time. I would claim that there are some exceptions to the line of thought that causing a controlled crash is always proof of rider error and/or lack of skill. I was as good a rider as anybody at that time, it was a simple case of choosing the lesser of several evils.