A panel that advises on sentencing is putting forward proposals on how drivers who kill on the roads should be dealt with by the courts.

The Sentencing Advisory Panel (SAP) will publish a consultation paper on offences of causing death by driving.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched a major review of the way it deals with motorists who cause death on the roads.

The consultation paper proposes that the worst cases now prosecuted as death by dangerous driving should instead be prosecuted for manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of life.

Sir Ken Macdonald QC, the director of public prosecutions, said he believes that public attitudes to bad driving have changed dramatically in recent years, and the CPU's policy over prosecuting motorists may need to be modified.

A range of other bad habits behind the wheel, including tailgating and using a hand-held mobile phone, which are now prosecuted as careless driving, may also be moved into the dangerous driving category, the CPS suggests.

It would mean that a much broader range of poor driving behaviour would carry a prison term - dangerous driving comes with a two-year maximum prison sentence - whereas careless driving can only be dealt with by a community order or a fine.

The CPS also asks for feedback on where the boundary should be between dangerous and careless driving in cases where the motorist makes a single misjudgment or whose concentration lapses for just a moment.

The document says that some members of the public want to see death by dangerous driving prosecuted as "gross negligence manslaughter". But current guidelines say manslaughter is "very rarely appropriate" in road death cases.

The CPS has been extremely wary of bringing manslaughter charges because, under current rules, if a motorist is acquitted by a jury he will walk free, and manslaughter is a demanding case to prove. Under reforms expected to come in next September, the CPS will be able to bring alternative charges against the same defendant.

Drivers who kill may still escape prison under proposed guidelines for the new offence of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, brought in to counter public concern about such cases, it emerged yesterday.

The sentencing advisory panel is recommending a starting point of a weighty community service sentence for the least serious of such offences. For the most serious, the starting point would be 36 months in prison. Aggravating factors such as speeding, driving aggressively or using a mobile phone would push the levels up from there.

The panel produced sentencing guidelines yesterday for two new offences: causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, which will carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, and causing death by driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured, for which the maximum sentence will be two years in prison.

These offences, created by the Road Safety Act 2006 and due to be brought into force this year, were a response to public concern that drivers who caused deaths but were convicted only of careless driving were being too lightly punished.

Among sentences that caused an outcry were a £1,000 fine and a year's driving ban for lorry driver William Ishani, who killed a family of four, including a nine-month-old baby, and a £400 fine and six points endorsement for Waqas Ahmed, who reversed up the M25 in the dark without lights, killing two people.

The panel plans to research public attitudes to driving offences before sending its final proposals to the Sentencing Guidelines Council, which will draw up guidance for judges. Martin Wasik, the panel's chairman, said: "In particular, we are keen to -*test*-('") public opinion on the difficult balancing exercise that needs to be carried out when sentencing an offender who had no intention to cause harm but whose actions have resulted in death."

Yesterday's consultation paper also proposes new sentencing guidelines for two long-standing offences: causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs, for which the maximum sentence has been increased by parliament from 10 to 14 years.

The panel recommends that for the most serious offences the starting point should go up from six to eight years.