American Social Media Personality Fined Following Mass Electric Bike Gathering on Iconic Australian Bridge
New South Wales authorities have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for reported reckless operation after a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on Tuesday.
The Incident: A Prohibited Ride
A group of approximately 40 people operating electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly then turned around and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.
"This had potential for people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner the officer on the following day.
Law enforcement indicated they did not chase right away the riders due to 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 Content Creator
Later in the week, authorities announced they had issued the US social media influencer known as Sur Ronster, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.
The influencer is said to have more than 3.4 million followers on one platform and over 1.2m on Instagram.
Influencer's Comments
The content creator spoke with a local publication this week following the event spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "bike life" a negative image.
"I accept the blame. It was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he said. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to abide by the laws and norms of Sydney. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi near the bridge."
"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group completes the entirety of the bridge and turns around, an illegal act. Or we reverse, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."
National Debate on Electric Bike Rules
The increase of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, recently said that non-compliant electric bikes were a "complete hazard on the road."
"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are presenting at our ERs are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] officers are granted the powers to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."
The state reported over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in the previous year. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four deaths.
