Hi, sorry I haven't read the whole of this thread but I wasn't sure if the following had been mentioned:

Reflective stickers:
A car's headlights reflecting off just one of these 1'' reflective strips is easily more visible than any of the lights on my bike. I stick lots of these on all sides of the tubes so that the bike is visible from all angles and more importantly, because they follow the shape of the bike, it's really clear to other road users from along way away that I am on a bike, so they can plan how to deal with me well in advance. And don't stop with the bike, a couple on your helmet lets motorists at the back of a traffic queue see you at the front. Also, I’d recommend sticking some of these on the underside of your bike, although they will get muddy and may seem stupid, one day you may be lying on your back in the middle of a busy intersection, seeing stars and very grateful for these.

Pedals:
I reckon you should get pedals made of metal with some ugly grippy teeth and wear shoes that grip them well. You will occasionally skin your skins on these when pushing the bike, but if your foot slips off the pedal (rain, mud and oil from road gets on your shoes) when you're accelerating hard you will fall off and Sod’s law says that it will be in the direction of traffic.