05:06 PM CST on Monday, November 28, 2005

By Doug Miller / 11 News

T'is the season for giving, but some acts of charity are downright dangerous.

KHOU

Younger solicitors would be banned from the streets under the proposed law.

At busy intersections, Houston drivers see it all the time -- youngsters raising money for charity.

"Thank you. Have a nice day."

It's a sight so common, sometimes it's scary.

"He's reaching down underneath the car where the money had fallen," said Houston City Councilmember Carol Mims Galloway, who took a photo of a child ducking under a car to grab change.

And then there are incidents like the one in 2004 when a child ended up between the tires of a truck.

"That's when the little boy came up under the truck and he was laying to the ground," said an officer at the scene in southwest Houston.

That child wasn't hurt, but he narrowly escaped death.

Now, Houston is about to change the rules on all of this. If city council approves a proposed ordinance change, nobody under the age of 16 will be allowed to solicit funds on city streets. And anybody between the age of 16 and 18 collecting money on the street would need adequate adult supervision.

"I sometimes have a concern when you see one adult and 20 kids. Are they really looking after those kids? The ordinance will have one-to-four," said Houston City Councilmember Toni Lawrence.

But drivers would no longer see the youngest faces working for charities on the streets at least, not legally.

"I know it's going to save a life," said Galloway.

The new rules on charities hitting the streets could hit the books within sixty days.