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NSW police have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for alleged reckless operation following a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of around 40 people riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The assembly subsequently reversed direction and rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

"There was a risk of people to be injured and killed," stated a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Law enforcement said they did not chase right away the group out of safety concerns but instead located the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

On Saturday, police announced they had served the American online personality known as Sur Ronster, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality reportedly has over 3.4 million followers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a local publication recently following the event gained traction on digital platforms, saying he regretted giving "bike life" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was among the safest gatherings I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, and I intend to come here respecting the laws and norms of Sydney. So 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’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we reverse, basically, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The increase of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, the minister, commented that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Young people have engaged in reckless acts on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are presenting at our ERs are absolutely devastating," he stated. "We must ensure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to dispose of them."

The state reported over two hundred injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that figure surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.