Philadelphia, PA – March 27, 2026 – Senator Anthony Williams (SD-8) and Rep. Morgan Cephas (HD-192) recently introduced legislation that would require the City of Philadelphia to establish a pilot program to address hit-and-run accidents. The bill would provide for a registry of licensed vehicle repair shops and require notifications to be made to help more quickly identify individuals who have fled the scene of a crime.
“With so many victims hurt or tragically lost to hit-and-run accidents each year, we are committed to holding individuals accountable and bringing justice to the families and victims of these horrible crimes. But, ultimately, we want to save lives. This legislation, starting as a pilot in Philadelphia but with the larger goal of helping statewide, will put drivers on notice that leaving the scene of a crime won’t work while at the same time giving us the data we need to understand how a broader statewide program could be enacted,” Senator Williams said.
The legislation would provide for a three-year pilot program in the City of Philadelphia, to create a uniform registry of vehicle repair shops licensed to operate in the city. The Philadelphia Police Department would be required to notify vehicle repair shops when a hit-and-run occurs, including identifying information about the vehicle they have available. Vehicle repair shop owners would then be required to notify police if any vehicles suspected of being involved in a hit-and-run attempt to have a vehicle repaired.
“We cannot accept a reality where lives are lost on our streets without immediate, coordinated response. This updated Jay Alerts proposal reflects the strategic collaboration necessary to advance urgency, awareness, and prevention. I am committed to working with advocates and partners to move this forward—because safer streets mean saving lives,” Representative Cephas said.
“We are so thankful for Senator Williams’ and Representative Cephas’ leadership on this issue,” said Jasmine Hoffman, co-founder of Jay Alert and street safety advocate. “It will be 10 years this year since we lost my niece, Jayanna Powell, and 9 years of advocating for the Jay Alert legislation. In that time, fatal Hit and Runs have increased and more families have had to deal with the trauma of not knowing who killed their loved ones. It’s time we do more to stop hit and runs and this pilot program is an encouraging first step.”
Jay Alerts legislation was first introduced by Senator Williams in 2017 in honor of Jayanna Powell, an 8-year-old girl who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from school in 2016. The driver attempted to evade police by taking their vehicle several counties away to get it repaired. Ultimately, the repair shop owner saw a news report and notified police who apprehended the driver.
Background:
15% of all police-reported crashes in the US in 2023 involved a driver who left the scene, resulting “in more than 240,000 injuries (10% of all crash injuries) and 2,872 deaths (7% of all crash deaths, the highest percentage ever recorded),” according to a March 2026 research brief from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The brief included that Pennsylvania saw 8,135 total fatalities from hit-and-runs between 2017-2023, with 22% of pedestrian or bicycle hit-and-runs resulting in a fatality during that period. The report also pointed out that drivers may be less likely to flee when measures are in place that make them believe they will be caught.
According to the Pennsylvania State Police Community Access to Information Dashboard, 8,038 hit-and-run crashes occurred in Pennsylvania in 2025. PennDOT data shows that in 2024, 72 hit-and-run driver crashes resulted in fatalities and 345 resulted in serious injuries. The Philadelphia Traffic Victims Dashboard shows there were 28 hit-and-run victims in 2025. The year before, nearly half of pedestrian deaths and serious injuries in Philadelphia involved hit-and-runs.
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