I'll take the 0.08BAC drunks and the cruiser/stoners at night over the hellbent/suv/soccer moms/cellphone yaking/hate my job and this crap commute rush hour sociopaths anytime.

Riding at night, depending on time, is peaceful. Cooler, lower winds, can hear lone motorist approaching before you see them. It's counter-intuitive, but you can actually make yourself more visible at night with multiple flashing lights in the darkness, than in full sunlight with a high viz fluorescent shirt. The darkness is your visibility advantage - it allows you to increase your contrast against the background.

It's impossible to get the same contrast in the daytime - you can't carry that many batteries and lights!

People staring straight at you in the daylight just won't see you. But you can "assault" their night vision with 2-3 PBSFs or equivalent, nevermind the flashing P7s.

Heavy nightime traffic is the exception, very hard to standout in these circumstances. I avoid nightime traffic (daytime traffic too for that matter).

Machka makes a key point - people on the couch / in bed can't hit you with their motor vehicle.