A Metro councilman wants to make it illegal for street vendors to sell items to people in vehicles, arguing the practice poses a safety hazard that has become more serious.

Councilman Steve Glover in 2015 unsuccessfully pushed legislation that would have restricted the sale of newspapers from street corners, including the homeless street paper The Contributor.

But he's now broadened the scope with his latest legislation to apply to the sale of any goods, food, wares, merchandise or products.

The bill, which is set for the first of three votes Thursday, would make it unlawful for any person to hand any good of any kind to the occupant of any motor vehicle that is on a public street or roadway. In addition, no action could be taken that is intended to "cause the vehicle to hand anything to the person selling or distributing the materials."

Glover, an outspoken conservative, said he was inspired to sponsor the bill after the recent deaths of two pedestrians in Nashville, including an incident on Dec. 3 in which a vehicle hit and killed a man soliciting on Briley Parkway.

"This says no standing on the streets, period," Glover said. "It's dangerous. You're endangering yourself and you're also endangering people who are driving. It's not a good practice.

"The argument was always, 'Well, nobody's ever gotten hurt.' Well, we've had two people killed in the last three months.'"

The ordinance would also keep the city's existing restriction against vendors stopping, standing or parking a wagon or automobile on any public property for the purpose of selling goods.

The prohibitions would not apply to companies or individuals that have agreements with the city to operate, meaning that food trucks that operate legally in Nashville would seemingly be exempted. It would also not prevent street vendors from selling their products on sidewalks or in parks.

The proposal is similar to a prohibition on street corner sales that exists in Brentwood.

After introducing his bill that targeted the sale of newspapers in 2015, Glover indefinitely deferred the legislation in March 2016. The proposal had been met with swift opposition from homeless advocates and leaders of The Contributor while raising constitutionality questions.

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Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.