3 of them were Tow Mirrors on Pick Up trucks.
Yes, those things are a menace. Not so much here on pick-ups as on Luton vans (box truck in the USA?). I've been clipped a few times on my right shoulder (we drive on the left in Australia). Never badly enough actually to crash, but certainly to rip my clothes and cut my shoulder. Quite why cars have to have smooth folding mirrors, while trucks are allowed to have sharp metal brackets sticking out at cyclist-shoulder (and pedestrian-head), level, I do not understand.
Coaster brakes are awful. Not least because they condition little kids to the wholly
false and dangerous idea that the primary braking force on a bicycle should be the rear brake/wheel. Then some of those kids grow up to ride
brakeless fixies, and skid/wobble/weave/crash/slide through red lights, because they can't stop properly...
I don't ride it much because I'm out of shape and have crazy long legs so I end up sitting super high which honestly sort of scares me.
I wish I had crazy long legs...
If there is a bike-shop in your area that can do a proper bike-fitting, you might want to have one done, and get your bike adjusted. I did that a few years ago, and a small adjustment (replacing the handlebars and stem) made a huge difference to my comfort and my ability to ride up hills. If you are comfortable on your bike you will feel (and actually be) much safer.
The conventional wisdom is that a woman needs a wider saddle with a shorter "nose". The "shorter nose" tradition arose from the theory that ladies would ride in skirts, so it is possibly less relevant today, and in general a longer nose gives better control to the rider. The "wider" thing is aimed at women's pelvic bones, and so depends a lot on your build. There are lots of "ladies" saddles out there (though some are just pink instead of black) and there is not much alternative to trying them out. Check out your vendor's returns policy. Research on
cycling web-sites and forums is OK, but saddles are like shoes; they have to fit
you. Some female riders swear by saddles with a cut-out in the middle, while others find the edges of the cut-out irritating. Personally, I ride a
Brooks Flyer which is nominally a man's saddle. The ladies' version, the Flyer S, is 30-odd millimetres shorter, fractionally lighter, and a whole one millimetre wider (like that's going to make a difference).
Edit: Removed unwarranted slur on hipsters. You don't have to be a hipster to be an idiot on a fixie.