An effort in the Louisiana Legislature to charge drivers with vehicular manslaughter who accidentally kill someone while behind the wheel has died.

The bill remained before the full Senate awaiting a floor vote when the session ended June 21. It previously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sponsored by Sen. Chris Ullo, D-Marrero, the measure sought 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 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 have bridged the gap between the two.

The vehicular manslaughter bill, SB277, set a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a maximum fine of $2,000, or both.

The bill was 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.

Current state law permitted the man who struck her son’s car to walk away with nothing more than a traffic ticket.