I know it isn't the point you are trying to make but I do dress as if I plan to crash. I always have a helmet, I always wear "don't run me over" yellow, I use a headlight and a tail light and I wear a mirror to keep an eye on the cars that are trying to sneak up on me and do smokey burnouts on my head. I can't imagine how bad of shape I would be in if I hit my head that hard without a helmet. Blind, deaf, or dead are all strong possibilities.

The sun was directly in the drivers eyes as it was sunrise. I'm not sure that a headlight that was anything less than full high beam of another car would have made me more visible. Trying to out shine the sun is a difficult thing to do. It is just a bad spot and I plan to change my route to a slightly longer path that avoids that intersection.