Get Well, Dave Moulton!

Ex-bicycle-framebuilder, septegenarian, writer, and cycling blogger Dave Moulton was in a bicycle accident on Tuesday as an SUV in the opposite lane driving towards him cut across his path. Dave, a strong rider who was moving fast at the time, had no options but to slam into the side of the SUV. You can read his story here.

He's expected to make a full recovery, but was experiencing double-vision as of Thursday morning. While he received a hairline skull fracture from the impact, his helmet took the brunt of the force, as you can see by the photo.

Drop by Dave Moulton's Bike Blog and wish him a speedy recovery. And then read some of his stories. He's one of the good guys and deserves our thoughts and prayers! Plus a fair and equitable settlement.

All bicyclists know this can happen at any time with little or no warning. And while the mortality rate is actually lower for bicyclists on the road than it is for SUV drivers, the potential for any kind of injuries caused by any kind of SUV-bicycle incident are surely higher for cyclists.

But in an amazing display of optimism and hope, hundreds of thousands of cyclists take to the streets every day because they believe in what they're doing and they enjoy it too much to give it up, despite the perils they might face.

Sadly, letters to editors regularly criticize cyclists for all their own woes and sorrows -- a curious blame-the-victim mentality given that cyclists assume nearly all the risks in a showdown between two-wheeled- and four-wheeled transport.

The key requirement of a healthy society is that we all must depend on and extend common courtesy if we are to survive and thrive.

But as Dave recently wrote on his blog, "Share the road is a common courtesy, and unfortunately, common courtesy is disappearing from our society. Let’s face it, there are drivers out there that don’t want to share the road with anyone, not just cyclists."

Unfortunately, Dave had to demonstrate that sad reality for the rest of us only a few days after writing those very words.

Keep Dave in your thoughts and prayers through the coming weeks. And keep wearing those bicycling helmets!