🔗 Share this article

New South Wales police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving after a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A gathering of approximately 40 individuals operating electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The assembly then turned around and rode through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"There was potential for serious injury or fatalities," stated a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Law enforcement said they did not chase right away the group due to concerns for public safety but rather found the assembly at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

Later in the week, authorities announced they had served the US social media influencer known as Sur Ronster, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a penalty of $562 and three demerit points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The influencer is said to have over 3.4m followers on one platform and over 1.2m on the social media app.

Creator's Response

The online figure gave comments to a local publication this week after the incident gained traction on digital platforms, stating he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, and I intend to abide by the rules and standards of the city. When I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to greet people under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, which is a crime. Or we reverse, basically, before entering the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked growing calls for stricter rules. The federal health minister, the minister, recently said that non-compliant electric bikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are presenting at our ERs are truly severe," the minister stated. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy 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 figure jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.