Apropros of the Angus traffic collision today, a couple of days ago I was watching a video about how the SMIDSY can occur, and what we (as bikers, or cyclists) can actively do about it to try reduce the occurrence—and can occur anywhere, really.
The main factors are apparently 'looming', where a small faraway object seems to stay small and faraway until suddenly IT'S RIGHT THERE!, and 'camouflage', where people on two wheels are made still more invisible because of the bitty, fiddly silhoutte compared with the slab of monocolour car that (many) people are tuned to look for.
Super bright lights don't help with looming, because that's not distance perception, and bits of hi-viz don't necessarily help with camouflage because that's not an object discernment-identification thing; John Franklin refers to it as perspicuity. Flashing red lights might help identification these days, but not distance perception. Huge slabs of colour might be better, which is why Police motorbikes are mostly recommended to be bright yellow and their riders also bright yellow. But even a motorbiker isn't the size of a car, especially when viewed end-on, let alone a cyclist.
Then there's a SMIDSY Identification and Avoidance Manoeuvre that involves weaving to break up the camouflage against the static background and perhaps aid in distance perception.
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