New South Wales authorities have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported reckless operation after a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on Tuesday.
A gathering of approximately 40 people operating electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the downtown area and a nearby district.
"This had a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on the following day.
Police said they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but instead located the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.
Later in the week, authorities stated they had served the US social media influencer known as the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, connected to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.
The influencer reportedly has over 3.4m followers on one platform and over 1.2 million on the social media app.
The content creator spoke with a local publication recently following the event spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "bike life" a bad reputation.
"I accept the blame. That was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. When I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a group ride, it was just to greet people near the bridge."
"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we turn around, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."
The increase of e-bikes on streets across the country has prompted growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, recently said that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."
"Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he said. "We must ensure we stop these things entering the country [and] officers are granted the powers to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."
NSW reported over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in the previous year. However, in the first seven months of the following year, that number surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.
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