matspart,
It would be hard to argue with your conclusion given your experience. What I tell people is that flying little planes is safer than riding a motorbike but a bit more dangerous than driving a car, then I hope they don't ask how I worked that out
I just renewed an insurance policy and they loaded it 75% for flying little planes, which I don't understand, but at least they insured me! Riding motorbikes was OK. I would rather fly a SEP plane at night than ride a motorbike in London, and it's not even a close - but I ride a motorbike in London.
Night flying certainly has human factor challenges but the engine doesn't really know what the ambient lighting is. I'd say disorientation is the biggest additional risk factor, which is a human problem. One of the old chesnut sayings is that engines do know they are flying at night, as auto-rough goes ON.
Oh, pholooh - I don't know any pilot who wears a parachute unless they are flying aerobatics, and even then some don't. Aerobatics at night would be more than a tad foolish.