🔗 Share this article

NSW police have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and served two traffic infringement notices for reported negligent driving following a large group of e-bike riders converged on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A gathering of approximately 40 people riding electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The riders then turned around and traveled through the downtown area and a nearby district.

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

Police said they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but rather found the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

Later in the week, police stated they had issued the US social media influencer known as Sur Ronster, 26, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality is said to have over 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The content creator spoke with a major newspaper this week after the incident spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I accept the blame. That was among the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to come here respecting the laws and norms of the city. So when I decided to do a public meeting it was not meant to include a group ride, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, I am to blame we found ourselves 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 reverse, essentially, before entering the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on roads nationwide has sparked increasing demands for stricter rules. A senior government official, the minister, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," the minister said. "We must ensure we prevent these things entering the country [and] officers are given the powers to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

The state reported 226 injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. However, in the initial half of the following year, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.