🔗 Share this article

NSW police have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and served two driving violation citations for alleged reckless operation after a large group of electric bicycle users converged on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A group of approximately 40 people operating electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The riders subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the downtown area and Haymarket.

"This had potential for people to be injured and killed," remarked a senior police official David Driver on the following day.

Police said they did not immediately pursue the group due to safety concerns but rather found the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

On Saturday, police stated they had served the US social media influencer known as the influencer, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), with a penalty of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, connected to the bridge incident. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The personality is said to have more than 3.4m subscribers on YouTube and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The content creator spoke with a local publication recently following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I accept the blame. That was among the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. When I decided to do a public meeting it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: whether the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we turn around, basically, before entering the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on roads nationwide has sparked increasing demands 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 reckless acts on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are presenting at our ERs are truly severe," the minister stated. "We must ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the powers to crack down, to take them away, to destroy them, to destroy them."

The state reported 226 injuries associated with ebikes in the previous year. But, in the initial half of the following year, that figure surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.