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Pennsylvania State Senate
04/18/2024 06:46 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20230&cosponId=39471
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 24, 2023 10:23 AM
From: Senator Anthony H. Williams
To: All Senate members
Subject: "Jay Alerts" - Hit-and-Run Direct Notification of Auto Repair Shops
 
In the near future, I will be re-introducing legislation to establish a Hit-and-Run Advisory Alert system, to be known as “Jay Alerts.” The purpose of this legislation is to reduce hit-and-run accidents and enable quick identification and apprehension of motorists who flee the scene of an accident in which serious bodily injury or death result.

Alerts to vehicle repair facilities under this bill shall be referred to as “Jay Alerts” in honor of eight-year-old Jayanna Powell, who was struck and killed in November of 2016 while walking home from school. The driver, a twenty-four-year-old male, allegedly fled the scene after striking Jayanna and attempted to hide his involvement by having a female acquaintance take the vehicle to a suburban repair shop twenty miles west of the city. Only after the auto repair shop owner saw a TV news report offering a reward for information leading to the driver’s arrest were police able to track down the suspect.

Subsequent to a hit-and-run accident resulting in serious bodily injury or death, the first piece of legislation would require the investigating law enforcement authority shall alert all vehicle repair facilities in Pennsylvania via system developed by PennDOT. The information provided shall include, but not be limited to, as available, the following:
  1. Vehicle make, model, year, and color,
  2. License Plate Number,
  3. Unique identifying characteristics, and/or
  4. Extent of damage
For the purposes of enabling this notification system, all vehicle repair facilities must register with the Department to ensure accurate contact information.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to reduce the time between hit-and-run accidents and the apprehension of a suspect. This will hopefully discourage motorists involved in accidents from fleeing the scene and provide the families of victims more swift resolution


Introduced as SB730