Margaret Throsby recovering after Bulli e-bike crash puts shared-path safety back under the spotlight

Margaret Throsby is in hospital after a collision that has, once again, exposed how quickly a shared path can turn into a scene of injury and confusion. The former ABC broadcaster was walking in Bulli, in the Illawarra south of Sydney, when she was struck by an electric fat bike carrying two teenagers. What followed was not a routine fall, but surgery, a broken hip and a number of other injuries.

Her daughter, Holly Throsby, said the 84-year-old also injured her thumb and head. She described a high-impact crash in which the boys appeared to hit her mother on one side, sending her down on the other. The result was blood, two large haematomas on her head and a hospital bed that no one had planned on occupying.

Bystanders helped at the scene on Sandon Drive, Bulli, and police attended as well. Holly Throsby said officers have stayed in contact about her mother’s condition, while paramedics had to give pain relief before she could be moved on to a gurney and taken to hospital. She underwent surgery on her hip the following day.

NSW Police said officers spoke with the rider, a 16-year-old boy, and his passenger, who remained at the scene and assisted the woman. The force said inquiries were ongoing. The next day, police also ran Operation Spoiler across the Wollongong and Lake Illawarra districts, targeting illegal e-bikes and trail bikes. The high-visibility operation ran from 8.30am to 6pm and involved traffic and Highway Patrol officers, local general duties police, specialist Trail Bike police, bicycle police and Polair. Officers carried out 37 e-bike stops and issued four infringement notices, two cautions and 15 youth warnings. Police said the operation was unrelated to Throsby’s crash.

The incident has also reopened a more awkward question: what exactly are children doing on heavy electric bikes with enough speed and mass to leave an 84-year-old in hospital? Holly Throsby said she would not want the teenagers charged, adding that they looked mortified and scared. But she also argued that the answer lies in legislation, education, training and some form of licensing for young riders. Her view is blunt, and hard to dismiss: when bikes are massive and heavy, accidents like this do not feel especially surprising.

Electric fat bikes, with their wide tyres and seats large enough for two, are common in coastal areas such as the Illawarra. That may be convenient for riders and profitable for sellers, but it does little for pedestrians who assume a shared path is still a shared path, not a test track with spectators.

Margaret Throsby AO joined the ABC in 1967. She became the first woman to read national radio news in 1975 and, in 1978, the first woman to present national television news. She later hosted The Margaret Throsby Show on ABC Radio Sydney and, in more recent years, programmes on ABC Classic FM and Radio National.

Holly Throsby said her mother was in excellent health and expected to recover well, although rehabilitation for her hip will take time. That is the good news. The less comforting part is that the path, the bike and the rules around them still look badly out of step with one another.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com