Food delivery rider risks his life by cycling through Sydney’s WestConnex tunnel

A hapless food delivery rider has risked his life and angered drivers by cycling through a busy motorway tunnel.

The cyclist was seen furiously pedalling inside Sydney’s WestConnex tunnel on Saturday evening, while an overhead screen warned motorists of an ‘incident’.

As the rider pushed on with his dangerous route, he sat as far left as possible while cars avoided the inside lane.

But his position on the road didn’t make up for the disruption to traffic, as shocked drivers were forced to slow down to avoid him.

Cars adjusted to a 40km/h crawl in what is usually an 80kmh speed limit.

Footage of the delivery rider was taken from inside a car and shared to reddit.

‘Caught this [sight] going eastbound around 8pm,’ the original poster wrote.

‘Brought almost the whole tunnel behind it down to 40km/h until the traffic passed it.’

Cycling inside the WestConnex tunnel, which is 33km long, is illegal and attracts a fine of $268. 

The response was mostly anger at the rider’s actions, but other had sympathy for him.

‘See this is the really sad thing about these delivery riders – they actually don’t know s*** about cycling and shouldn’t be doing this job at all,’ said one person.

‘No way a normal regular cyclist would just cycle into a goddamn tunnel.’

‘I can’t even begin to imagine what was going through their head. Probably not a lot,’ said another.

Several speculated such an incident happens when a delivery rider relied on Google Maps but fails to adjust their direction settings for cycling instead of driving. 

Others took the chance to comment on the road etiquette of all deliver riders.

‘If they’re not on the footpath they’re in the tunnels.’ 

‘Imagine the guy taking the wrong turn and now realising the delivery will take him like 3 hours and he will get paid like $7 for that,’ another added.

Cars around the hapless delivery driver adjusted to a 40kmh crawl in what is usually an 80kmh speed limit

WestConnex CEO Andrew Head said riding inside the tunnel is illegal because ‘it’s very dangerous’

Some commenters claimed to have been there and driven past the rider.

‘I think I saw the same bloke because I was in the tunnel too at that time. [He’s] loving the fumes in there.’

In 2020, WestConnex CEO Andrew Head said riding inside the tunnel is illegal because ‘it’s very dangerous’.

‘I hold my breath when I see these incidents, always hoping that they’re not going to end in tragedy,’ he said, referring to footage of another cyclist in the tunnel in 2020.