The Senate Transportation and Housing Committee passed AB8, legislation to reduce the number of hit-and-runs, on an 11-0 vote after surviving a “no” recommendation from the chair and some strong lobbying efforts.

The legislation from Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) will institute the “Yellow Alert” system, which would allow law-enforcement officials to engage other drivers to help identify and apprehend hit-and-run suspects.

The bill passed after activists from pedestrian, cyclist and street-safety groups, and citizens statewide told committee members they wanted the bill to apprehend suspects who commit hit-and-run crimes.

The bill will permit law-enforcement officers to use the state’s existing network of freeway signs to broadcast information about vehicles suspected in hit-and-run incidents. Alerts will be issued by local law-enforcement when there is a sufficient description of the offending vehicle or the identity of the suspect when it’s known.

This “Yellow Alert” system will be limited to the area where the hit-and-run crime occurred and will only be used when the hit-and-run results in death or serious bodily injury. The legislation will also give California Highway Patrol the ability to prioritize the alerts if they happen to occur on the same day.

“It’s gotten to the point to where not a single week goes by without seeing another hit-and-run tragedy occurring,” Gatto said. “People flee because they know there’s little chance that they’ll be caught.”

Los Angeles City officials are offering a $50,000 standing reward for information in hit-and-run cases, and the mother of a hit-and-run victim in Orange County has petitioned every city in that county to create a hit-and-run alert system.

The Los Angeles Police Department reported that 80 percent of all hit-and-run crimes were unsolved from 2008 to 2012.

“California has the existing alert infrastructure in place and it costs us next to nothing to use it,” Gatto said. “I have no doubt the Yellow Alert system would help apprehend criminals and have them brought to justice.”

The bill next goes to senate public safety, but a hearing date has not been set yet.