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New South Wales police have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and handed out two traffic infringement notices for reported reckless operation following a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A group of approximately 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 traveled through the downtown area and Haymarket.

"This had potential for serious injury or fatalities," remarked a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Police said they did not immediately pursue the group due to safety concerns but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

Later in the week, authorities announced they had issued the US social media influencer who goes by Sur Ronster, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, in relation to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality is said to have more than 3.4 million followers on one platform and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The content creator spoke with a major newspaper recently after the incident gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "bike life" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was one of the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to abide by the rules and standards of the city. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a group ride, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we reverse, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," he stated. "We must ensure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are granted the powers to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

NSW recorded over two hundred 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.