ROAD safety campaigners are to make a renewed attempt in the coming months to introduce a charge of causing death by careless driving.

The move follows several high-profile North-East cases in which drivers involved in crashes left court with only fines, despite pleading guilty to causing fatal accidents.

At present, the Crown Prosecution Service faces a choice between a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, which carries a potential prison sentence, but can be difficult to prove, and careless driving, which carries a maximum sentence of a fine and a driving ban.

In November, a woman in Cramlington, Northumberland, was fined £200 after she pleaded guilty to careless driving in the accident in which 26-year-old Lee Hainsworth died on the A177, between Stockton and Sedgefield, County Durham.

The death of the talented Shildon FC footballer is only one case in which families have been left frustrated by sentences given to drivers.

A Bill introduced in October by Dorset South MP Jim Knight to introduce a charge of motor vehicle manslaughter failed because it ran out of Parliamentary time.

However, his office has confirmed negotiations are taking place in which a new law, backed by campaign groups Roadpeace and Brake, could be added to a Home Office Bill in the coming session of Parliament.

Tynemouth MP Alan Campbell, who supported Mr Knight's Bill in the summer, said there was a good chance the law would be introduced.

Mr Campbell, who has long campaigned with Durham City MP Gerry Steinberg and Wansbeck MP Dennis Murphy for a change in the law, said: "The law as it stands is not tough enough.

"Virtually every constituency has been affected by a tragic accident of this kind, where the perpetrators have got off very lightly, and we do believe the law needs to be changed to reflect the seriousness of what has happened and give the families a feeling that justice has been done.

"It is important that the law focuses on the outcome of events, not just the nature of the driving itself.

"There is no resistance within Government to this proposal, quite the contrary, but it has not happened to date, partly because of the complexity of the issue -it is quite difficult to frame a law which deals with all cases."