A man riding an e-bike without a helmet is in a critical condition after crashing into a pole while allegedly fleeing police in Sydney’s south-west.
NSW Police said officers had tried to stop the 39-year-old man after seeing him riding along Bungulla Street, Sadleir, without a helmet about 11pm on Saturday.
After seeing the officers, the rider allegedly rode away before crashing into a pole, police said. He was treated at the scene for serious injuries, and taken to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition.
Police have declared the crash a critical incident, and an investigation, overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, has been launched into the circumstances around the incident.
Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden is expected to speak about the incident on Sunday morning.
The crash comes as emergency doctors welcomed a crackdown on illegal e-bikes after several Sydney hospitals reported a doubling in serious e-bike related injuries.
New figures show trauma doctors at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst last year treated 200 patients for injuries sustained while riding e-bikes.
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick as of last week had treated 35 children injured by e-bikes and e-scooters this year, ranging from scrapes and fractures to suspected spinal and severe head injuries.
There were at least five e-bike related deaths in NSW last year. In July, a 14-year-old boy was killed coming off his bike, which his parents bought online and believed was an e-bike but was actually closer to a motorbike in its construction. A 65-year-old male pedestrian was killed after being hit by an e-bike in Toongabbie in October.
In December, an e-bike rider in his 30s was killed in a collision with a garbage truck in Ultimo.
Under proposed new laws, police will be given powers to seize and crush illegal e-bikes amid growing concern over the popularity of the high-powered vehicles dubbed “fat bikes”.
The state government will also introduce technology that allows police to carry out roadside testing to determine whether e-bikes exceed power limits.
The new portable “dyno units”, which measure a vehicle’s power output, would be used to determine whether an e-bike’s power assistance cuts at 25 kilometres per hour, the legal limit in NSW.
Instances of dozens of e-bike riders swarming locations have increased, part of a growing trend among teenagers riding the vehicles.
Earlier this month, about 40 e-bike riders descended on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and CBD in a mass rideout that police described as “incredibly irresponsible, stupid and downright dangerous”.
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