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NSW police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and handed out two driving violation citations for reported reckless operation after a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A group of approximately 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly then turned around and traveled through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

"There was potential for people to be injured and killed," remarked a senior police official the officer on the following day.

Law enforcement said they did not immediately pursue the riders due to safety concerns but rather found the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

On Saturday, authorities announced they had issued the American online personality who goes by Sur Ronster, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a fine of $562 and penalty points per notice, connected to the bridge ride-out. They added that inquiries were continuing.

The influencer reportedly has over 3.4m subscribers on YouTube and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The online figure spoke with a major newspaper this week following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was among the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to abide by the laws and norms of the city. 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’m unfamiliar with the city, I am to blame we ended up on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The increase of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he said. "We must ensure we stop these things entering the country [and] police are granted the authority to crack down, 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 number jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.