Teens Are Renting Bird Scooters to Cause Problems in Abilene
It's been a little over a month since Abilene introduced Bird Scooters in the downtown area and businesses and residents are already seeing a big problem in the Key City. Teens are using them to wreak havoc on the streets of Abilene.
Big Country Homepage reported one incident where a "gang of juveniles" were surrounding patrons of a downtown bar on Pine street and harassing them to a point where a physical altercation took place between the riders and the people leaving the bar.
But, wait, there's more.
According to the Abilene Police Department's Facebook page, one Bird Scooter rider, a teen, was involved in a crash with a truck on Grape street on June 20th.
Residents sounded off on the post highlighting personal experiences they've had with the teens who are renting the Bird Scooters.
Fortunately, the teen is recovering from this incident. But, it doesn't take away the fact that teens are able to rent these Bird Scooters even though you are supposed to be 18 and over to rent them.
Guess what? There's more.
Another incident was reported via Facebook by a resident of downtown Abilene on June 21st. Wooten Hotel resident, Kayla Christianson shot a video of a bunch of young adults riding through the streets of downtown Abilene and cutting off cars, ignoring traffic laws, and even surrounding a car.
So, it seems this is becoming an issue in the Key City where teens are able to rent and ride the Bird Scooters and cruise the streets with no regard for safety. Again, you are supposed to be 18 and over to rent these e-scooters.
I wrote an article on the scooters in May calling for Abilene to embrace this convenient way to get around town. But, until these issues with rowdy teens are addressed, maybe the Bird Scooters need to migrate elsewhere?