It was a clear day, open road, no issues with sight lines (curve, hill, etc), and only two vehicles on the road, both behind me. I heard them, checked the road ahead, and decided they had the full lane to safely pass. WHAM! Luckily, the second vehicle stopped to check on me (pretty much had to, as my bike was in the middle of the road) and chased down the offending driver, who 'didn't know he had hit anything'.
So, my advice, for what it may be worth -
1) sue the SOB.
2) use the money to buy a new bike (I upgraded from aluminum 10 speed to CF 11 speed) and invest in a mirror, blinking lights (red rear, white front), bike computer, and Varia radar unit. When you get notified a vehicle is approaching, check your mirror. If the vehicle is all over the road, or doesn't appear to be moving over to pass safely, choose Plan B and do whatever is needed to get yourself out of harms way. Awareness is key. Cameras are also good to document the incident, should one still occur. I use the Varia RTC715 with camera, and a GoPro facing forward.
3) find a safe MUP to take the kids out until they are old enough and can handle the bikes well.

I don't think I need a computer (yet) because an app on my phone seemed to work pretty well for me. Can I put a mirror on a mountain bike or would that be weird? Not that I mind being weird, but just wondering. Most roads around here are pretty busy. There are always cars passing me. As long as the shoulder is pretty wide, I generally ignore them. Wouldn't the radar just go off all the time? I'm not sure if I want that. Or maybe that means I need it more. What do you think about mounting the GoPro on the helmet vs. on the bike?

Brutal start, could be a fluke, could also be that your inexperience contributed, you could have anticipated the car and dodged it. Lights are a good idea but won’t save you from a drunk inattentive driver.

i say you have to get used to the idea of crashing and falling off your bike, but no getting hit by a car isn’t part of the deal/what you signed up for.

I don't know if the Varia radar will send a notification to your phone.

Yes, you can put a mirror on any bike. In your case, it wouldn't be any more weird than riding a mtn bike on the road. FWIW, I use a helmet mounted mirror. I find it easier to move my head a little to get a look behind me. If it's mounted on the handlebars, you have to reposition the mirror, or your body, as you change position on the bike.

The car you ignore is the one that will get you. Try not to ignore any of them. I would rather have the radar notify me 100 times that a car is approaching, only to see that it's moving over to safely pass, than to ignore the radar warning and get clobbered again.

Helmet vs. bike GoPro mounting? I tried both, and the helmet mount felt uncomfortable. Also, GoPro batteries don't last all that long, so you either have to remember to bring (and change) spare batteries, or use an external power pack and USB cable. I use a Garmin Edge external battery pack. It attaches to the bottom of my Garmin out-front mount. The GoPro is right below it, so a 3" cable is all I need. The Varia RTC715 has the camera to the rear, so I can record what's coming from both directions.

Helmet mirror. Yes. I Iike it already. A big mirror on the handlebar is probably going to get caught on a bush or something when we are in the woods.

GoPro is expensive! And having a separate gadget with separate storage and battery does sound like a hassle. Unless there is a good reason not to, I think I'm going to start by getting a phone mount and using my phone as a camera and GPS.

Is there another camera that is cheaper? I just want basic security / share on Facebook footage. I'm not a vlogger, ya know?

Radar is expensive too, but I think it is probably worth it, since it has the light and camera.

Okay .... first off, you don't have to get used to crashing. Unless you are a real risk taker, you shouldn't crash ... that would be like telling kids to expect to fall down a lot while walking. Once you master the basic skill ....

Sometimes, drivers, other riders, animals, or road hazards will catch you off guard ... sometimes a mechanical failure might bring you down. These are rare and most risk can be minimized.

Mirrors are a good thing, but not necessary. I commuted in a busy city for many, many years without mirrors or daytime lights.

Mounting cameras .... meh. If I think I am at such risk that ti makes sense to capture accident footage for insurance purposes, I don't want to ride there.

Radar ... some people swear by it, others .... whatever. it might be helpful or it might be a distraction. it is certainly not a necessity, else everyone who rode bikes before it was invented would have died in accidents.

The only real survival tool is awareness. As you know from experience, you can be 100 percent aware, swivel necked, seeing and hearing everything, and still get hit ... but completely random and unforeseeable stuff happens very rarely.

And you know, you could have six lights, six mirrors, six radar units, and if a driver coming up from behind you drops his phone and decided to reach for it .... but by the same token you are vastly more likely to get hurt in a car accident (in a car) and even more likely to get hurt in a slip-and-fall in your bathroom. What are you going to do? I wore my radar in the shower but it shorted out.

Mirrors are (relatively) cheap. Buy a helmet one, and if you don't like it, replace it with a handlebar one. Forget about whether it's weird or not, anyone who cares about what you have on your bike is going to find something to complain about and should be ignored anyway. Personally I prefer the helmet mirror as the vibrations on the handlebar one I tried made it difficult to see very much, YMMV. Be aware that it takes some practice to make any good use of the helmet mirror, but once you adjust to it you'll find it comes naturally.

Mirrors are an offensive weapon. I check my mirror when I am about to do something. Every now and then I check just because I can. But I also know that 1/2 of bike accidents are collisions with fixed objects! Maybe the rider(s) should have been more focused on what was ahead? A mirror would not have given the o.p. enough warning to escape harm. Lights would not have given the DRUNK driver any incentive not to weave into the o.p. I'm saying this because of the advice the o.p. is getting to light up and get mirrored. As I said, I have these things. In some places they are mandatory. I just don't want the o.p. to have any illusions about how useful they are in keeping him safe.

I have a nice bright light to SEE with at night. It does not flash. It can but I don't use flashing in front. My rear lights flash and can be seen for many times the required 200'. That makes me legal. Not safe(r). The 1% of drivers that can take you out ... ... when it's your time ... ... that's not fatalistic. I'm just saying that the advice to choose roads with lower traffic loads is a great idea. But riding only on trails and MUP's?? Riding wouldn't have any place in my life if I had to throw the rig in the back of a car when I wanted to ride. My bike IS my car. I'm on it every single day, rain or shine, and I cannot completely avoid traffic. All I can do is reduce my exposure to the roads that do not have bike lanes or speeds over 30mph.

O.p.'s bike doesn't look that bad. I'd ride it. A shop can tell them if the frame itself has been damaged. All I see from here is the obvious: a new front wheel is deffo in their future. I dumped my motorcycle after only two months. I was on the New York Thruway at 60mph. The bike hit a guardrail almost instantly and was totally destroyed. I continued to slide for 1/8 mi. and burned off most of my clothing. Not a single broken bone. I was 22 and had saved for that bike for years. I never got another. By the time I might have been able to afford one again, I had a wife ... ... bikes, bicycles are a lot of what motorcycles bring you. I tell myself that. I would definitely try the bicycle thing again if the first crash left me in as good a shape as the o.p. is in. Godspeed.