Yes!! Drivers in cars get used to estimating the distance of other cars. Looking at another vehicle that's not a car, all their car-based habits can throw them for a loop. Generally it works against us bicyclists as we are closer than we appear -- we look smaller (i.e. less wide than a car) than expected which gets interpreted as further away. I don't think that drivers are any better at estimating the distance of a bicyclist with hi-viz clothes or a blinky, they're just more likely to see them as they pull out in front of them while still processing the "so what?". At other times, the unexpected scene causes confusion and wonder which, fortunately, some patient drivers see as a call to wait rather than a window to blast out into traffic. Bless them.

The statistics that are being tossed around so far are largely useless to me. I think of risk as a probability / rate sort of thing. The numbers I saw only speak to numbers of occurrence. I need a denominator.

When I'm driving, I do a lot of pondering about what makes me see bikes and motorcycles, and particularly what makes me react to them or otherwise get an accurate picture of what is going on. Everybody has their own anecdotes and feelings. My net:

For daytime:
-- lane positioning and a blinky white front light are very important
-- bright colors are a big plus, though I'm not married to hi-viz
-- red tail blinky doesn't hurt, but is the least significant to me

For nighttime:
-- I can't stand a front white blinky, but a good steady white light matters lots. Helmet lights in particular are very noticeable.
-- a good red blinking rear (e.g Dinotte), or a couple of good lower end ones (e.g. Superflash) is a must. I barely see lots of riders with single, small lights that are dim because they're either junk or low on batteries.
-- lane positioning matters less because the good lights take over, but it still counts
-- reflective takes over bright in value in clothing. There are some reflective black things things that are better at night than they are in the day.

On my motorcycle, I've added a blinky of sorts - a headlight modulator that flashes my hibeams during daylight. I use it when I'm hitting a lot of cross traffic. I can see it makes a big difference and think it helps get over the closer-than-appear issue as well the basic see-ability, though I know as a driver it is pretty annoying so I don't run with it much when there isn't lots going on traffic-wise. When the high beams are off, my foglights are usually on and they just make enough of a hi-lo weird profile (night or day) that I think it makes folks look twice and be more likely to process both my presence and the distance/so-what bit. I think the bicycle parallel of that is the helmet+handlebar light combo.