Where do you get your data on flat tires? I get flats in a car every couple of years or so and not from potholes but from the screws and nails. How a pothole can even puncture a car tire in principle? It's not a tubed bicycle tire where you can pinch inner tube with the rim. As for "missing" spares - all cars without a spare I owned were using run-flat tires, those are better than a typical "doughnut" spare when flat.

Also, as a cyclist myself I commend your bravery for riding without lights. It's in the driver handbook so it's missing from the TFA and the discussion here, but the lights on the vehicles are not just to see something but to be seen as well. Especially on a bike.