Do you mean like drivers are raging at panhandlers?
In my experience, drivers are going to call someone (police or 311, in Calgary's case) and go on a NIMBY-style rant about how they "shouldn't have to put up with this".
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Isn't a road rage incident where either a person gets out of their vehicle and confronts someone or dangerous moves are made with the vehicle due to driver to driver argument?
Yes-ish, but it doesn't require the other party to be in a vehicle. The most common pedestrian/vehicle road rage incidents are going to be someone in a car angrily honking at a super slow pedestrian who walked late and is walking the red, so to speak. The most common vehicle/panhandler road rage I've heard about (and I've heard about it twice) involved the 'dirty water bottle and clean your windshield' type incidents at stop lights. Road rage doesn't require physical violence or physical confrontation.
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I'd like to see the stats you have on this, cause beyond frustration I can't see there being a significant rise of people actually engaging in "road rage" incidents over it. And haven't these intersection panhandlers been around forever?
I have no stats on it, just anecdotal experiences. I get calls from people fired up about "that guy walking through traffic" about once a shift. That number really hasn't changed in the 6 years I've been doing the job. It obviously slows down some when it's cold out, and picks up a bit when it's warmer. And they are just 'fired up' to rant/vent at me to "do something" about it. I've never personally heard of any physical confrontations or accidents caused. Generally, at most, there is some loud verbal sparring between the two involved parties.
The one singular accident/fatality I'm aware of is the one spoken up earlier in the thread, but that seems to me to be more anomaly than baseline.
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Just to add to the thread here's my experience from a few weeks ago.
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Originally Posted by jayswin
I'm a little surprised. I was driving west bound on McKnight coming up to 12th st turning right. A car canvassing panhandler bolted from the middle of McKnight because of the cop beside me.
McKnight traffic had a red light, but I was turning right so going a good 50-60 km's, he bolted right in front of me, so I swerved and held the horn down. I couldn't believe the cop didn't do anything on such a close call especially after that accident last week for pretty much exactly what happened to me (except I had just enough time to react).
I'm assuming they just don't want the hassle of writing a ticket that will never get paid, but I still feel like he should have went over and at least had the conversation, as useless as it may have been.
This piece was produced and broadcast by a Sinclair Broadcast Group TV station. The media conglomerate that has been criticized for sending member stations "must read" scripts, as well as "must run" segments that have been considered to be favorable to certain political affiliations.
I watched the whole video earlier today, I don't think it was classic "Terrorism Alert Desk" Sinclair horse####. Seemed to mostly point out that ignoring serious drug addiction and tolerating the negative aspects isn't a good solution for them or the community.
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I think it's naive to assume that because they look able bodied that they could work. They're up against so many barriers. Poor work history, addiction, no access to Internet, no clue to do a resume/cover letter, perception from employers...etc. The list goes on. Poverty and homelessness and addiction are terrible cycles that are so hard to break.
None of which is a barrier to picking up jobs at cash corner. Some panhandlers are too messed up to do that sort of work. Some just don't want to.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
None of which is a barrier to picking up jobs at cash corner. Some panhandlers are too messed up to do that sort of work. Some just don't want to.
Which I don't think does a whole lot for long term job potential. That being said, the casual labour program in Edmonton that I know of apparently does offer longer term employment to the more reliable people. But how many homeless addicts are reliable? I'm not saying they're blameless in all of this either. Bad decisions cause repercussions. But for all those people telling them to go get jobs - would you hire them? I didn't think so.
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But living an honest life - for that you need the truth. That's the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, leads to liberation and dignity. -Ricky Gervais
When I refer to road rage I mean other drivers complaining about traffic not moving because someone is engaging with someone panhandling. They are not raging at the panhandler, they are raging at the guy in front of him who doesn't move. We have seen some minor rear end collisions over it but nothing major. White Tiger covered a lot of it with his response.
Unfortunately, the homeless issue in Canada is likely to get worse before it gets better. A major influx of opiates coming with a not so hot economy is a bad combination.
On the outskirts of the city I suspect these people aren't homeless
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I don't disagree on the road it kills, but you're talking about taking beat cops off of other more important activities to:
a) entrap people helping the poor, and
b) catching people using their phones while at a stop.
I can think of 1,000 better uses of their time that will do more to help the community and save lives.
Dont need to take away beat cops, leave them to do what they do.
a) use the same guys who sit in photo radar vans all day and have them sit in chairs @ intersections asking for tips looking for people on their phone.
b) hire more cops specifically to target distracted driving
Distracted driving takes more lives per year than all other driving infractions, including drunk driving. If that's not a better use of police time I don't know what is...
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Does anybody here actually give money to these intersection panhandlers, and if so, what's your rationale? Whenever I see someone do this, my jaw drops. It just seems really really really dumb.
"I was out of work for quite a while … and I was just doing this on and off because I seen other people doing it and I did extremely good at it, actually — like really, really good at it."
So good, in fact, that Jonas says he does "extremely well" on his best days, and his worst days are "still really good."
How good?
"On a good day, I can make $400 doing this in three hours."
The key to Jonas's success? Getting away from downtown and into the city's suburbs.
Jonas's income claims don't surprise Const. Jessica Wood, who is the community resource officer for the Calgary Police Service in the downtown area.
"If it wasn't lucrative for the people who are panhandling, they wouldn't continue with the behaviour," Wood said.
"I have heard that people can make upwards of a hundred dollars an hour, so that sounds about right to me."
