The Florida Highway Patrol announced an aggressive new campaign designed to save lives in response to a dramatic rise in hit-and-run crashes in Central Florida.

The numbers are startling: 184 people were killed in hit-and-run incidents in 2014. That's a 23 percent increase from 2013, when 149 people were killed.

In the last two years, there have been 40 deadly hit-and-run crashes in Central Florida alone. Half of those cases remain unsolved, and only 13 drivers have been arrested, according to the FHP.

Investigators said these cases are hard to solve and can take months to gather evidence — and that's if they have a vehicle.

To put a face on this epidemic, families of hit-and-run victims attended a conference at FHP's Orlando headquarters Monday, asking for tougher laws that would encourage people to stay at the scene of a fatal crash.

"This person has a family, and once you take a life, you are taking a whole family," said Norberta Figueroa, whose 13-year-old son, Omar Javier Figueroa, was killed in 2013 after a woman hit him in a crosswalk and fled the scene. "It's a son, it's a daughter, it's somebody's mom, it's probably somebody's dad — it's a life. It's not an object that you just hit."

Families of victims said they struggle with the question: What if the driver would have stopped and called 911? Could it have saved a loved one? No one knows.

But it's a very important message both troopers and families are trying to get across.

Florida law requires you to stay at the scene of a crash if somebody was hurt or killed. If you drive away, your license can be suspended for three years.

If somebody died in the crash, you'll face a minimum of four years in prison for a hit-and-run.

That was passed in 2014, but families believe their should be harsher penalties that would compel drivers to stay.