After the Sydney Harbour Bridge was swarmed by 40 or so ebikes and e-motorcycles on Wednesday, the Australian government said the country faced a “real emergency”.
“[Illegal ebikes] are a total menace on the road,” the health minister, Mark Butler, said on Friday.
“Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating.
“We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] police are given the powers to crack down, to take them away, to crush them, to destroy them.”
Ebikes have been hailed as a climate-friendly solution to city traffic congestion, transport emissions and even youth social media addiction, offering Australians a means to get more exercise and save money.
But they have come with a cost – and even taken lives.
The state of New South Wales recorded 226 injuries related to ebikes in 2024.
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