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A high-powered e-bike capable of reaching speeds of more than 90 kilometres an hour and ridden by a 14-year-old boy was one of 36 motorised bicycles seized by police on Friday in a crackdown across the Northern Beaches.
Operation E-Voltage between NSW Police and Transport for NSW was the first of its kind since the Minns state government amended the Road Transport Act last month to make it illegal to ride an e-bike capable of being peddled at more than 25 kilometres an hour.
Police targeted areas across the Northern Beaches that have been identified with recent incidents of illegal, dangerous and reckless e-bike use, from Manly and Curl Curl to Dee Why and Avalon Beach.
The new rules allow police to destroy any illegal, modified or similarly high-powered bikes.
The state government has taken an increasingly hardline stance on e-bike usage this year given their proliferation across Sydney, concerns from medical experts and mass ride-outs like the one in February in which about 40 e-bike and motorcycle riders descended on the Harbour Bridge during peak hour.
Police issued 16 penalty notices and 46 caution notices during Friday’s operation for offences such as not wearing a helmet and mobile phone usage. One of the allegedly modified, non-compliant e-bikes seized during the operation was ridden by a food delivery rider.
“E-bikes must behave like bicycles, not motorcycles. If your bike can operate like a motorcycle under throttle or go more than 25 kilometres an hour while being powered, it is not legal to ride in public,” said Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray.
Murray said most e-bike riders are using them legally and safely, but a small number were ignoring the rules and government warnings.
“Before you or your child jumps on an e-bike, please make sure it’s road-legal, otherwise you risk losing the bike,” Murray said.
Police used a speed-testing dynamometer to detect suspect devices, which identified three of the 36 seized e-bikes as being non-compliant.
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Lucy Macken is an investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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