Hey Leigh, its good to see you are back in the saddle. As East Hill said, there are plenty of places on here to see what people are doing for safety, one of my personal favorites is the Commuting board. You will find alot of people who ride in traffic everyday, and talk about their incidents and what they have done to over come them. I know somewhat how you feel, i have never been fully hit, but i guy clipped me with the mirror of his truck some time ago, it hurts pretty bad. On top of that, it took me some time to get serious about biking after many injuries from racing and jumping, i learned to stay on the ground for the most part now.
Just stick with it, and remember to have fun.
Justin