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NSW authorities have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and served two traffic infringement notices for alleged reckless operation after a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

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

"This had a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on the following day.

Police said they did not immediately pursue the riders out of safety concerns but rather found the assembly at a scenic Sydney lookout near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Content Creator

Later in the week, police announced they had issued the US social media influencer who goes by the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), with 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 influencer is said to have over 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a local publication this week following the event gained traction on digital platforms, stating he was sorry for giving "bike life" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was one of the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. 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, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we turn around, basically, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

National Debate 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, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," he said. "We’ve got to ensure we stop these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the authority to crack down, to take them away, to destroy them, to destroy them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries associated with electric bikes in the previous year. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that number surged to 233 injuries plus four deaths.