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NSW police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for reported negligent driving following a large group of electric bicycle users converged on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A group of approximately 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The riders then turned around and rode through the downtown area and Haymarket.

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

Police said they did not chase right away the group out of safety concerns but instead located the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed 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 violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a penalty of $562 and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality reportedly has more than 3.4 million followers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on Instagram.

Influencer's Comments

The content creator gave comments to a local publication recently after the incident spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was among the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, and I intend to come here respecting the laws and norms of Sydney. When I decided to do a public meeting it did not involve 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 a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, an illegal act. Or we turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to go back."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has sparked growing calls for stricter rules. A senior government official, the minister, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," he said. "We must make sure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are given the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy them, to destroy them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries associated with electric bikes in the previous year. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that figure jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.