ACT Policing is warning Canberrans not to risk their lives by copying online trends, after two children were filmed hanging onto the back of a moving bus.
In the video, two children can be seen clinging to the back of a bus travelling along Clarrie Hermes Drive in north Canberra.
The driver of another vehicle can be heard beeping to try to get the attention of the bus driver.
Both children are then filmed leaping from the bus as it travels through a roundabout, and running away.
ACT Road Policing Inspector Paul Hutcheson said police and Transport Canberra were aware of the problem.
Inspector Hutcheson said the behaviour was both illegal and "potentially life-threatening".
"[Legally] you have to travel inside a motor vehicle designed for the carriage of passengers, and you also need to be wearing a seatbelt," he said.
"So there's several offences being committed, but besides the offences it's just really dangerous behaviour.
"The cheap thrill and a few likes on social media are not worth the risk."
Inspector Hutcheson said police were concerned about "bus-surfers" falling or being struck by another vehicle and said he understood there was a trend on social media where people shared videos of themselves engaging in the activity.
He encouraged concerned family members or friends to step in if they knew of someone following the trend.
"If you're aware that some people in your family or your social group are engaging with these behaviours … having a concerned family member or friend [bring it up] is probably a much better conversation to stop that," he said.
He said people who posted videos of themselves participating in dangerous trends that included illegal activity could end up facing fines or even court.
"The media posts … are sometimes people who observed it so obviously that's not a way to track down people," he said.
"But we have done it for things like hooning behaviours, where people have put social media posts up and we've been able to identify them and give them ether infringement notices or court appearances."
