EVERYONE should cheer Julia Drown for backing the campaign for tougher penalties against those who kill and severely maim others by driving irresponsibly or while over the alcohol limit.

Ms Drown, South Swindon MP, is being entirely reasonable in demanding that the worst of such offenders should be charged with manslaughter.

Their behaviour is more than wickedly selfish. It is comparable to smashing somebody over the head with a brick a crime that would certainly be called manslaughter if the victim died.

People like Vicky Byrne, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed in a car driven by a young man who hit a tree after he had been drinking, have every right to be disgusted with the law that appears to separate the offence from its fatal results.

It makes no sense. The offender with the brick could equally claim he did not realise somebody would die as a result of his appalling behaviour.

Victims of fatal road crashes deserve to be regarded as more important than a mere accident statistic.