🔗 Share this article

NSW police have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and served two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving following a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of around 40 individuals operating electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the primary roadway of the bridge, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders subsequently reversed direction and rode through the downtown area and Haymarket.

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

Police indicated they did not chase right away the group due to safety concerns but rather found the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, where they dispersed.

Penalties Issued for Content Creator

On Saturday, authorities announced 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), carrying a penalty of over five hundred dollars and three demerit points per notice, in relation to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The personality is said to have more than 3.4m followers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a major newspaper this week after the incident gained traction on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "bike life" a bad reputation.

"I accept the blame. It was among the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. So when I decided to do a public meeting it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had two choices: whether 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. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for regulation. A senior government official, the minister, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We’ve got to make sure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are given the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries associated with electric bikes in 2024. However, in the initial half of the following year, that figure jumped to 233 injuries plus four deaths.