3-year-old suffers broken leg when hit by 'fat bike' at Caringbah South

Clara Ferrer Patxot was walking home along Gannons Road with her three young children after visiting shops at the corner of Kingsway when the accident occurred about 5.30pm on Tuesday last week.

Juan, 7, and Biel, 3, were walking next to a fence when the bike was ridden between them and their mother who was pushing 18-months-old Cecelia in a pram on the footpath.

Ms Ferrer Patxot said she stopped to get something from the pram when, from the corner of her eye, she saw the e-bike travelling towards them at high speed.

She called to the boys to stop still so it could pass, but Biel "took one little step" towards her and the bike hit him and dragged him "for about a metre".

Ms Ferrer Patxot pulled the bike off her son and checked his head because the wheel was close to it. There were just scratches and a little lump.

"But, when I picked him up there was a massive lump on his leg and he was screaming in pain," she said.

Ms Ferrer Patxot called her husband who ran down and carried their son home.

Biel was taken to Sutherland Hospital where x-rays revealed a broken tibia.

His leg was placed in a cast and he was kept in hospital overnight for observation.

A specialist examined him today and said the break was healing well and he will not require surgery.

Ms Ferrer Patxot notified police, who were due to take a report.

Ms Ferrer Patxot said she felt sorry for the teenager, whom she believes was aged about 14.

"He was crying and saying he was sorry," she said.

"Teenagers are riding these high-powered bikes, but they don't have the maturity to handle them.

"Something really bad could happen and they would have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

"They are always flying down the Gannons Road footpath and I am telling the kids to 'watch out'."

Sutherland Shire councillor Leanne Farmer, who first raised the issue on the council floor late last year, said the case illustrated the need for people to be licensed to ride e-bikes that do not need to be peddled for power, ie have a throttle.

"These bikes need to have a different classification. They are not e-bikes, they are e-motorbikes," she said.

Cr Farmer said software, which limited the power when bikes were bought, was very easy to change.

"I want children to have freedom and independence, but I also want them to have the knowledge so that they ride responsibly," she said.

"A licensing system would ensure education was effective.

"When I was a kid I rode a jet-ski, and I had to have a licence for that. This is no different."

Cr Farmer urged residents to make a formal report of every illegal e-bike incident to police.

Transport for NSW says: "To be classified as a bicycle in NSW, an electrically power-assisted bicycle must have a maximum continued rated power of 500 watts, if the power output progressively reduces as the bicycle's speed increases above 6km/h, and is cut off when the bicycle reaches a speed of 25km/h, or the rider of the bicycle stops pedalling and the speed is more than 6km/h."

Shire resident Greg McCarthy, who addressed the council on the issue early this year, said, "Transport for NSW is of the opinion that the continuous rated power is a specification of the motor itself, and, therefore, it would not be legal to use an e-bike on NSW roads that uses a motor with higher power rating even if it is limited by software, switch or other means"."