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Local Police Not Enforcing Law Banning Road Solicitations

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – You've no doubt seen them, and they were out again over the weekend. Can collectors for good causes clutter Pittsburgh area streets all year.

Turns out those solicitations are illegal.

Volunteers soliciting money for firefighters, muscular dystrophy, cancer research, and a variety of other causes are constantly standing out in the middle of the street.

Some drivers are okay with it, some aren't.

"It's bad I think. Too many accidents to begin with, and they're standing out there stopping everybody. I don't think it's right," one driver told KDKA's Jon Delano.

Some worry it's a scam.

"I don't like it, cause you don't know who's who, and what it's for," one driver said.

There's actually a state law that prohibits the solicitations, even if police don't always enforce it.

Section 3545 of Title 75 could not be any more explicit.

It says no person shall stand on a roadway for the purpose of soliciting employment, business, or contributions from the occupant of any vehicle.

State police do enforce the law, but many local police do not.

That has some saying local police need to enforce that law.

"I think so if there's a law, yeah, they should go after them and get them out of the road."

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