CHICAGO (CBS) – Some people are so down on their luck, they’re risking their lives to survive. It’s happening on Chicago’s South Side, and it’s creating a traffic hazard.

Even the police are having a tough time controlling it, CBS 2’s Jim Williams reports.

Stony Island is a major route to expressways and Lake Shore Drive. Traffic is very heavy, and it moves fast.

Right in the middle of it, at 79th Street, is Cecil Thompson, asking for money.

“I was born around here, I live around here,” Thompson said, when asked about the dangers.

He admits it’s dangerous.

It’s a hazard for drivers, too. They have to avoid hitting those who ask for money, while trying not to collide with other cars.

“One co-worker said she’s nervous because she’s not used to them being there, and she almost hit one of them,” said Esther Burnett, who often drives Stony Island to get to the work.

“I don’t want to hit them, so I’m extra cautious when I come there,” she added.

Still, Thompson said some panhandlers are hit by cars.

“One of them I know got his toes ran over,” he said. “You can get side-swiped. You get hit by a mirror.”

Police force the panhandlers off the intersection, but they come back and often find generosity, Thompson said.

“It’s rough,” said one driver, who gave a panhandler a dollar Monday. “We’re in a recession. You gotta help.”

But is this the right kind of help, especially if it could create a traffic hazard?

Julie Dworkin of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless insists that’s a personal decision.

“I think another thing people can do is figure out what are the real solutions and support the efforts to make those happen,” she said.

Thompson says he collects about $40 a day and lives in an abandoned truck with no heat.

Chicago police say they make thousands of arrests a year for aggressive panhandling.

Thompson said and most other panhandlers at South Side intersections simply hold up a sign asking for money and wait for the drivers to call them over.