Its not entirely true to say that civvy aircraft dont operate VFR at night... the SAR aircraft in Ireland and the UK routinely do.
Give me NVG and a good quality moving map and you have now increased the safety of any night op enormously.
I recently discussed this with a buddy of mine who flies NVG on EMS in CA (Sierra Nevada mountains)...I think they use Anvis 9. He said seeing is believing. They flip them down on the way out to the aircraft and flip them up on the way back in. The FAA have actually certified them as a corrective lens as you have to adjust them for your own eyes at the beginning of the shift. He said they quite literally turn day into night.
The moving map technology thats out there now is amazing and again would decrease the workload enormously in difficult circumstances. Anyone interested check out the Garmin 396 and see they way you can get current progs and sat images superimposed on the screen...brilliant stuff. And theres probably better ones than that available....