Parents need to take greater responsibility for their children’s dangerous e-bike use, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon declared, as he faces a revolt over pursuits.
The Police Association of NSW has directed officers to no longer pursue dangerous riders on e-bikes and motorbikes after two officers were charged after allegedly hitting a woman in a marked police car and knocking her from her bike. It is alleged the officers left the scene without rendering aid.
Lanyon and NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley on Wednesday voiced their disagreement with the powerful Police Association and reminded officers of their oath.
“The NSW Police Force obviously work for their commissioner. The police have an oath of office, and they’ll continue to do that,” Lanyon said.
Association president Kevin Morton argued police were not afforded enough protections to pursue e-bikes without fearing criminal prosecution.
“There comes a point where enough is enough. That point has now been reached,” he said.
The NSW government faces pressure to follow through on its promised e-bike safety reforms to establish an age limit for their use.
Transport Minister John Graham commissioned an expert report into potential age limits which was handed to him in June, however, the minister will not make a decision on the ban until next year.
The government has also refused to release the findings of the report, meaning parents buying e-bikes as gifts for their children this Christmas have no way of knowing whether it will be legal for their children to ride them next year.
Lanyon said it was the responsibility of parents to ensure a bike is age-appropriate for their child.
“When e-bikes are used safely and appropriately, they are a great form of conveyance, they are not dissimilar to a push-bike when they’re ridden appropriately, but most children aren’t given a push-bike by their parents without being shown how to use them properly,” he said.
“We ask the same for e-bikes. They are inherently dangerous if ridden incorrectly.”
A number of children and teenagers have been hospitalised after e-bike crashes in NSW, including an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old who were thrown from a bike during a crash with a Corolla in Albion Park on Tuesday night.
The 11-year-old, who was riding on the back of the bike as a passenger, was flown to Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick with serious injuries.
A 14-year-old boy was injured on Tuesday when he crashed his e-bike into a stationary car in Teralba.
Last week, a five-year-old boy was hospitalised with serious injuries including a brain bleed, a fractured skull and a broken leg when he was hit by an e-bike while walking along the footpath outside Tahmoor Public School, in the Wollondilly Shire.
The rider of the e-bike was identified as a 16-year-old boy, who is assisting police with their investigation.
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