In one of the priciest neighborhoods of Australia, a surge in reckless e-bike riders has led to serious consequences, with an elderly woman now hospitalized due to a brain injury.
Known only as ‘Robin’, the woman shared her ordeal on Tuesday with Ben Fordham, a host on Sydney’s 2GB radio station. She recounted how she spent a week in the hospital after an e-bike struck her while she was at a bus stop in Balgowlah, a posh area on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
The incident left Robin with a brain bleed and extensive bruising.
“I’m feeling much better, but I’m still experiencing severe soreness and persistent headaches,” Robin explained.
She described the moments leading up to the collision, saying, “I spotted this kid approaching rapidly; he seemed out of control.”
“I attempted to move away from the bus shelter, but before I could react, he crashed into me, sending me sprawling,” she recounted.
‘It was so fast, but all I know is my head and my hands hit the ground first, because my whole face is purple now.
‘My knees and everything, I just went crash bang onto the ground. Even the whites of my eyes were black.’
An elderly woman (above) was the victim of an e-bike hit and run last week
Gerard Kennedy caught footage of an e-bike rider throwing a water balloon (above) at his car
Robin was left injured by the roadside while the e-bike rider fled the scene.
She was only finally helped to her feet when a bus driver stopped at a nearby red light and ran over to help her.
‘The bus driver got off and somebody else helped me up,’ she said.
‘I sat in the bus shelter until I stopped shaking and took myself home which was across the road.’
Robin is far from the only Northern Beaches resident fed up with e-bikes with multiple reports flooding social media in recent weeks of riders attacking cars.
Local motorist Gerard Kennedy caught video of four kids travelling on e-bikes who hurled a water balloon at his car in mid-January.
‘A call out to the parents of these kids on e-bikes that were throwing projectiles at cars in Balgowlah,’ he wrote online.
‘The footage is being provided today to the police because this behaviour is very dangerous and could lead to a driver taking evasive action if they assume it was a rock being thrown.
Community pages have been filled with reports of kids on e-bikes hurling objects at cars, including rocks (pictured is a group of accused e-bike riders)
‘Such sudden evasive action could result in an accident.
‘If you were the silly boys and would like to make an apology, pop in to Manly Police station to give yourself up before your parents get a visit from the police this week.’
One woman shared photos she snapped of a group of children on e-bikes who threw rocks at a vehicle.
‘These boys were sitting on their e-bikes at Jacka Park hurled a large rock at a car and struck it, then gave the finger to the driver before taking off into Glen St,’ she wrote.
‘Parents of private school Year Seven or Eight boys, please identify them. Police have been called.
‘This is dangerous behaviour which is completely unacceptable.’
Community pages are filled with dozens more reports of children wreaking havoc on e-bikes, but Mr Kennedy claimed police are doing enough to prevent major accidents.
‘I’m a careful driver but these days you can’t assume traffic is coming from the same direction it should be,’ he told Daily Mail on Tuesday.
Local motorist Gerard Kennedy, who shot the video (pictured), called for police to crack down on illegal e-bikes by visiting schools
‘These bikes are on footpaths, going at high speeds, popping out from behind other vehicles. There’s so many on the road and some are going faster than motorbikes.
‘There’s also the weight of them. Those things weigh a tonne, they weigh ten-times what a regular bike does. They’re going to kill people if they hit them.’
Mr Kennedy added the wild behaviour is considerably worse during school holidays and when the school day comes to an end.
‘Police do blitzes on illegal e-bikes that can do over 25km/h every now and again but, honestly, I don’t think they do it enough. It’s got to be consistent,’ he said.
‘They need to go and sit outside schools because that’s where these illegal bikes are. Get every cop on the beat to go up to the schools, test every bike and put a crusher machine at the front for illegal ones.
‘Unfortunately, these kids know they can get away with it, and they are, because they’re kids. Even if they get caught, what are police going to do?
‘The community has gotten to the point where these kids are going to get yanked off their bike and sat on until the police turn up.
‘Everyone’s had a gutful of it.’
Robin backed up Mr Kennedy’s claims, saying that when she did go to hospital for the injuries she suffered in last week’s hit and run, she was one of several people seeking treatment for e-bike injuries that day.
‘When I was having x-rays, the girl said this is the third e-bike for the day,’ she said.
‘My daughter had her whole arm smashed up, she’s had plates and screws in her, that was nine months ago, and she’s still having physio trying to get the arm going.’
Daily Mail has contacted NSW Police and Northern Beaches mayor Sue Heins for comment.
