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New South Wales authorities have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer 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 the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of around 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The assembly subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

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

Police said they did not immediately pursue the group due to safety concerns but rather found the assembly at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

Later in the week, authorities stated they had issued the US social media influencer who goes by Sur Ronster, twenty-six, with two traffic infringement notices for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), with a fine of $562 and penalty points per notice, in relation to the bridge incident. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer is said to have over 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The online figure spoke with a major newspaper recently after the incident spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for 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 rules and standards 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: whether the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. 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 Electric Bike Rules

The increase of e-bikes on roads nationwide has sparked increasing demands for stricter rules. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he said. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things entering the country [and] officers are given the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

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