Drivers who accidentally kill someone while behind the wheel could face charges of vehicular manslaughter under a bill approved by a Senate panel April 6.

The Senate Judiciary Committee gave unanimous support to a bill sponsored by Sen. Chris Ullo, D-Marrero, to create a new statute that prosecutors could use against drivers who kill others in accidents that occur while running a red light or speeding, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

Under current law, prosecutors can charge a person with manslaughter in a nontraffic-related accidental death or with the crime of vehicular homicide when a driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Ullo’s proposal would bridge the gap between the two.

SB277 sets a penalty of up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $2,000, or both.

The vehicular manslaughter bill is the result of one mother’s crusade to change the law, Baton Rouge’s WBRZ TV reported. Sharon Cemo lost her son, P.J., in a traffic accident March 9, 2003, when his vehicle was broadsided on its driver’s side door while traveling through an intersection in Marrero, LA. He died later that day at a hospital.

State law now permits the man who struck her son to walk away with nothing more than a traffic ticket.

“The man who hit him was on his way to work and ran a red light,” Cemo said. “He said he didn’t see the red light.”

The bill now heads to the Senate floor for debate.