My daughter was killed by a hit-and-run driver. A simple step makes it easier to catch drivers who flee.

On Nov. 18, 2016, my daughter, Jayanna Powell, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. She was 8 years old.

My four children were walking home from school around 3 p.m. when Paul Woodlyn III drove around a stopped trolley car at North 63rd Street and Lansdowne Avenue and hit two of them: Jayanna and her brother Hassan Cox, 12, who had been holding her hand. Jayanna was thrown 100 feet in the air; she died later that day at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Hassan suffered injuries to his leg.

Woodlyn fled the scene. The Philadelphia Police Department’s Crash Investigation Division found that there were no tire marks on the roads, indicating that the driver didn’t even try to stop.

I will always miss my daughter, who called herself “Baby J.” She was such a bright light in our lives, and she loved to sing and dance. She wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up; instead, she didn’t even get to finish second grade.

Too many people are dying too young because of reckless drivers.

Traffic crashes surged in 2020, with an increase in reckless and distracted driving during the pandemic. More than 150 people were killed in traffic crashes in 2020, nearly double that in 2019. Last year, 31 people died in hit-and-run crashes in Philadelphia, a new record that is three times the number in 2019.

There is something we can do.

After running into my children in broad daylight, Woodlyn took his vehicle to an auto body shop in Chester County. His girlfriend, who dropped off the car at the body shop, said that the damage to the car happened when it hit a deer. When the owner of the auto body shop saw the news reports of the fatal crash, he reported the vehicle and the suspect to authorities.

» READ MORE: Coming to terms with his little sister's hit-and-run death - with the help of police | Helen Ubiñas

If that shop owner hadn’t seen the news, we might never have found my daughter’s killer. A matter this important shouldn’t be left up to chance.

I believe we need something like Amber Alerts for hit-and-run incidents. Amber Alerts were created in honor of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped in 1996 while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then murdered. The idea was adopted to help authorities locate missing children across the nation.

A matter this important shouldn’t be left up to chance.

My sister, Jasmine Hoffman, and I came up with “Jay Alerts” — in honor of Jayanna, our Baby J — which would notify auto body shops to look out for a car that matches the description of a car involved in a hit-and-run incident resulting in death or serious injury.

Since 2017, we have been advocating alongside State Sen. Anthony Williams for Jay Alert legislation. The legislation was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee in June. In a statement to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, which advocates for better road safety in our region, Williams said he is “committed to championing this legislation until it becomes a reality.”

Jay Alerts would not only help the police find the drivers who are at fault but also give us — the grieving families — some kind of closure.

It’s one thing to lose a loved one in a traffic crash; it’s another to hear that the driver left your loved one for dead and drove away. I don’t want to see any more parents go through what I went through.

We have been fighting to pass Jay Alerts for almost seven years now. I will not stop fighting until it passes. I’m standing and fighting for all hit-and-run victims. I will be their voice.

Ayeshia Poole lives in West Philadelphia.