Call me an optimist, but I have plenty of faith in the ability of Airlines (and Air Force) to put pilots in a completely controlled environment for both training and evaluation purposes – it’s called a simulator. I recall once seeing Alan Alda driving a car in a simulator, used to evaluate the effect of alcohol on driving ability. With modern simulators it would be possible to control the weather, time of day, traffic density, terrain, you name it.

With relative ease it should be possible to get unassailable answers to a whole bunch of questions:
What determines the car drivers experience (if any) when they encounter a cyclist ahead of them – this could address everything from position of cyclist on the road (including in or out of a bike lane), conspicuity of the cyclist, driving into the sun, effect of outside-vehicle distractions, effect of inside-vehicle distractions, effect of straight vs. curved road, effect of driver fatigue, effect of road width, traffic density, the list is endless.

Oh ye of little faith in science and such a myopic perspective.