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NSW authorities have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and handed out two traffic infringement notices for reported negligent driving following a swarm of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

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

"There was a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked a senior police official David Driver on Wednesday.

Police indicated they did not immediately pursue the riders out of safety concerns but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, where they dispersed.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

Later in the week, police stated they had issued the American online personality who goes by the influencer, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a fine of $562 and three demerit points per notice, in relation to the bridge incident. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer reportedly has over 3.4m followers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a major newspaper recently after the incident gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. That was one of the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to come here respecting the rules and standards of the city. So when I decided to do a public meeting it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, I am to blame we found ourselves on the bridge and I had a decision to make: whether the group completes the entirety of the bridge and turns around, which is a crime. Or we turn around, basically, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the harm that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We must make sure we prevent these things entering the country [and] police are given the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in 2024. However, in the first seven months of 2025, that figure jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four deaths.