This is the bizarre moment an escaped ostrich sprints along a busy Chinese motorway and inconsiderately hogs the middle lane.

The unusual scene was filmed on the Rongwu Expressway in the direction of the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday, 3rd January.

According to the news site Toutiao, the ostrich escaped onto the motorway and caused a brief traffic jam because it kept changing lanes.

Motorist Mr Chen filmed the flightless bird running on the motorway and shared the footage on the social network Douyin, which is what TikTok is known as in China, where it has been widely shared by netizens.

Mr Chen added that the ostrich was “beautiful”, but he reported it to the police for the safety of the bird and other road users.

In the footage, the large bird is seen running along the middle lane of the motorway with passing traffic on either side.

Mr Chen then pulls up alongside the sprinting ostrich before filming it with his camera as the video comes to an end.

According to Toutiao, the police arrived on the scene and ‘arrested’ the runaway ostrich before any harm was caused.

It is unclear whether the bird had escaped from a vehicle on the motorway or from a nearby farm.

Many Chinese netizens asked if the ostrich was fined for speeding on the motorway.