Your (and my) kickstand is angled forward just a bit. If it were angled back, the bike, if in neutral, would roll forward while on the stand and fall over. The stand goes just over center and forward. Think of locking your knees while standing. IDRIDR is right about the pogo effect. The one time I rode off with the stand down I was pulling straight out of my parking spot, and about 10 feet out the kickstand stiff-armed the ground a couple times. It didn't just snap up into position. Wham , Wham, then I realized what was happening, and quickly reached back with my foot and swiped it up. I just kept riding, like I didn't know where all that noise was coming from.
Dan

 

The safety switch is there to make sure the last thing you do isn't to forget to put your kickstand UP.

Still, I take the full responsibility of putting that stand up, and not forgetting, when I disable it.