Aussie cyclists' horror as new cycle lane routes them onto road with 70-tonne trucks

Love how the stock photo in this article is a typical London commute with HGVs/buses!

How is that any different to most roads in the UK? The Aussies really have cyclists mentally and physically boxed in.

Not a problem.  In a few years, after the Chinese takeover, the streets of Oz will be teeming with bikes as the indigenous population commutes to their menial jobs.

Australia's love affair with the bicycle continues.

Plenty of us ride on Lorimer Street. I’ve never had an issue with trucks, old half covered tram tracks are another story.....if marked correctly, it’s a very wide road in places and there’s enough room for booths bikes and cars/trucks. Rubbish article. 

"No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die..."

not sure if would take that article at face value - The Herald Sun doesn't  usually take a pro' cyclist slant - bit more enthusuastic about "road war" clickbait and pointing out the dangers that cyclists present to other road users

the big news for truck drivers should be that Lorrimer Street already has  on road cycle lanes!

the new proposal that forms part of a controversial  plan for a huge old industrial area does have planned good off road provision not that far  (as in useable)   to the south that will cross Lorrimer St,  the only inconvenience to truck drivers is where the routes will cross having to give way to cyclists (ie stop at red lights to allow cross traffic) time and fuel, time and fuel......

....this article is actually all about allowing port container trucks unfettered access to the general road network - freight transport operators are being squeezed by redevelopment and environmental concerns and are afraid that when new access routes are made to the Toll network and the Western Distributor toll being built they will be forced to pay tolls and use them - the container movement business is a cut throat margin business - operators want to rat run residential areas that currently have bans and curfews. Lorrimer St is a good place to pick a fight over as it isn't residential and the alternatives aren't yet built  but is scheduled to change as the area is  redeveloped...so all in all a bit of lobbying by the freight transport industry happy to use cyclists as a bargaining chip

to be fair here's a link to road industry magazine that gives background 

https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1704/pledge-for-local-truck...

and here is the recently proposed cycle routing 

https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/2017/10/26/bike-vision-confir...

Since the Oz government has demonstrated time and time again that they hate cyclists, starting with the crass helmet law, this isn't really all that surprising. Still, at least their law has demonstrated beyond all doubt that cycle helmets don't reduce risk to cyclists, so in one way, I'm grateful to them.