A WOMAN whose husband was killed in the Selby rail crash has embarked on an historic campaign to change the law on sleep-deprived drivers.

Margitta Needham, from Pocklington, has pledged to fight for a clause to be inserted into careless and reckless driving laws, specifically targeting drivers who kill while they are tired.

Mrs Needham's husband, Barry, died at Great Heck after the GNER train in which he was a passenger struck a Land Rover driven by Gary Hart on the East Coast Main Line. The train then hit a freight train.

A jury decided that Hart was asleep at the wheel when his vehicle veered off the M62. He was jailed for five years after being found guilty of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving - a sentence which has rankled with relatives and survivors since.

Specific penalties are in place in British law for drink-driving or driving while under the influence of drugs, but the same does not apply for tired drivers, although drivers are prosecuted under existing legislation.

This is despite research showing that motorists who go more than 24 hours without sleep display the same loss of reflexes as someone who is drunk.

But Mrs Needham has taken heart after a New Jersey court last year implemented a specific penalty for motorists who drive while tired.

Carole McDonnell had a law passed in the state after she campaigned following the death of her 20-year-old daughter Maggie in July 1997.

Maggie was killed by a van driver who admitted he had not slept for 30 hours, but who escaped with just a 200 dollar fine. Her efforts mean tired drivers who kill can now face a maximum ten-year prison sentence and 100,000 dollar fine.

American lawmakers argued that drivers, who travel after having had no sleep for more than 24 hours, are as culpable as those who drink or take drugs - because they are aware they are unfit to drive.

Mrs Needham said: "Times have changed and the law needs to change with those times. I feel that victims need to have a voice and this gives us an opportunity.

"It has happened in America. I would like to see a new law here. In a way, I have always been campaigning for this.

"I feel that through this I am fighting for Barry and that he is close to me. Society's attitudes need to change and tired driving needs to become unacceptable."

Mrs McDonnell said she was delighted to back moves for a new law in Britain. "I am very encouraged. When Maggie died, I thought you can either accept it or get on with fighting. So I started campaigning," she said.

"I am absolutely delighted that people in England have started to sit up and take notice about this. All I can say is, go for it."

Greg Knight, Shadow Minister for transport and an East Yorkshire MP, said he wanted to hear more about Mrs Needham's plans.

"Certainly there is a lot of concern about the perceived leniency regarding Hart's sentence," he said. "If there was a specific offence it could address that problem. Where you can prove drivers didn't have enough sleep then they are clearly culpable."

Updated: 10:37 Tuesday, February 10, 2004