Bird is giving away helmets with its safety tips today

BIrd, one of the major electric-scooter companies operating in Austin, hosts a safety event and helmet giveaway at Austin CIty Hall today from noon to 3pm. Jason JonMichael, the Austin Transportation Department’s assistant director of smart mobility, and Bird senior manager will open the event on the city hall plaza.

The event comes at a fortuitous time, as dockless vehicles (or what the city is now calling “smart mobility”) are quickly becoming a mainstay of Austin transportation—one that the city struggles to regulate as ridership, and complaints about parking and safety, grow.

The training and giveaway also dovetails nicely with the second weekend of the Austin City Limits festival, for which—if last weekend’s use is any indication—scooters transporting attendees will be out in force.