ROAD safety campaigners are to make a renewed attempt in the coming months to introduce a new law of death by careless driving. The move follows several high profile North-East cases in which drivers involved in crashes walked free from court with a fine, despite pleading guilty to causing a fatal accident. 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 Cramlington woman was fined £200 after pleading guilty to careless driving over the accident in which 26-year-old Lee Hainsworth died on the A177 between Stockton and Sedgefield. The tragic death of the talented Shildon FC footballer is the latest in a string of cases in which families have been left frustrated by the seeming injustice of the sentence meted out to drivers. A 10-minute rule bill introduced by Dorset South MP Jim Knight to introduce a charge of motor vehicle manslaughter failed because it ran out of Parliamentary time in October. However, his office has confirmed negotiations are taking place in which the new law, backed by campaign groups Roadpeace and Brake, could be bolted on to a Home Office bill in the coming session of Parliament. Alan Campbell, MP for Tynemouth who supported Mr Knight's bill in the summer, said he believed there was a good chance the new law would be introduced in the near future. Mr Campbell, who has long campaigned for a change in the law with colleagues Gerry Steinberg, the MP for Durham City, and Dennis Murphy, the MP for Wansbeck, 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 hasn't happened to date partly because of the complexity of the issue - it is quite difficult to frame a law which deals with all cases."