Tennis star Nick Kyrgios is facing a please-explain from police and potential fines for riding an electric scooter while not wearing a helmet and with a passenger aboard.
Just ahead of his first round Australian Open clash the world no.21 was photographed on Elizabeth Street in central Melbourne on Sunday riding a Lime e-scooter with a female passenger clinging to him, neither of them wearing helmets.
In Victoria, it is illegal to ride an electric scooter without a helmet or with a passenger on board.
Victoria police chief commissioner Shane Patton has seen the photo and said the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up would be spoken to by Melbourne highway patrol.
“It’s been reported to us. So because it’s been reported to us, we’ll reach out to Mr Kyrgios through Tennis Australia,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We don’t issue fines or anything like that without speaking to people to understand the circumstances and firstly identify that it is him.”
Kyrgios on Monday tweeted a reply to retired Australian basketballer Andrew Bogut branding Victoria a “nanny state”, writing “nah it’s too much now” alongside a series of laughing emojis.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 nah it’s too much now
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 15, 2023
Victoria’s year-long trial with e-scooter companies Lime and Neuron across three Melbourne councils was recently extended by two months.
E-scooter hospitalisations in Victoria jumped from 128 in 2020/21 to 427 in 2021/22, according to Monash University’s Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit.
Patton said police must investigate the 27-year-old over the photograph because it is a safety issue and he warned that offenders face fines.
“We’ve seen significant injuries in the city throughout this trial where people have hit their heads and the like,” he said.
“It’s a $231 fine for the rider of the scooter in this trial area (for not wearing a helmet) … or a passenger. And it’s a $185 fine for anyone who has a passenger on that scooter.”
The 19th seed starts his Australian Open campaign on Tuesday night against Roman Safiullin.