Bought a collapsible basket from Kmart for $6. Zip tied it to my rack and called it good. My bother with commuting was fiddling with my small duffle bag and strapping it to the rack, thinking it was going to fall off, into the wheels and cover my light.
This seems to have fixed the issue. First ride is tomorrow.
Also got a much better rear light on a $10 parts bike, so I've mounted that to the rack, down near the axle. Equivalent light was about $50, so that was great.
by oztrailrunner