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New South Wales police have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving following a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A group of around 40 individuals riding electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The assembly then turned around and rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

"This had potential for people to be injured and killed," remarked a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Police indicated they did not chase right away the riders out of safety concerns but rather found the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

On Saturday, 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 penalty of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that inquiries were continuing.

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

Creator's Response

The content creator spoke with a local publication recently following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, stating he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. It was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to abide by the rules and standards of Sydney. When I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to greet people under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, 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, an illegal act. Or we turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has prompted growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are granted the powers to crack down, to take them away, to crush them, to dispose of them."

The state reported 226 injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. But, in the initial half of the following year, that figure jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four deaths.