Proposed new laws that could see drivers in Western Australia who cause a fatal accident while distracted sent to jail are "frightening", a lawyer says.

There are already heavy penalties for reckless driving and dangerous driving under the Road Safety Act.

But the State Government wants to create a new offence of careless driving occasioning death, grievous bodily harm or bodily harm.

Examples of careless driving could include changing the radio, applying make-up, drinking coffee or turning around to speak to passengers in the back seat.

Road Safety Minister Liza Harvey said distracted drivers were extremely dangerous.

"Distraction on our roads kills people," she said.

"When you're driving and you're not paying attention, that's when people run into cyclists, that's when they go up a kerb and they might hit a pedestrian.

"So this is [about] having drivers focus on driving when they're in a motor vehicle, paying attention and not being distracted.

"This is not a mandatory penalty regime, it's just a new [maximum] penalty.

"We haven't settled on what that might be yet, but we'll leave it up to the courts' discretion to determine what level of culpability those drivers have."

Otherwise good drivers could be severely punished: barrister

Perth barrister Linda Black from the WA Bar Association said the proposed new laws, which are being drafted, could see otherwise good drivers severely punished.

"Momentary inattention is a part of life - it happens on the road, it happens in a cafe when we spill our coffee on someone," she said.

"The thought that you could go to jail for momentary inattention is frightening.

"You're listening to the football yesterday and like me you're an Eagles fan, you get to the end of the first quarter and you turn the radio off because you don't want to listen to the radio any more, you look up - bang goes your car into another car.

"It turns out someone in the back seat isn't wearing a seatbelt and they're dead.

"The fact that your conduct may have caused an extraordinarily extreme outcome doesn't mean our laws should be dealing with you in an extremely serious way.

"What our courts should be doing is looking at your conduct - what is it that you have done and is your conduct worthy of that kind of punishment?"

Distracted drivers extremely dangerous: campaign founder

Perth man Tom Davies founded the Enough is Enough road trauma campaign four years ago after 17-year-old Luke Beyer was killed in a car crash.

While the campaign originally focused on stamping out drink driving, Mr Davies said distracted drivers were also extremely dangerous and he supported the new laws.

"When you're driving a vehicle there should be one thing, and one thing only that you're doing, and that is focusing on driving," he said.

"We've got to this stage in society now where we can get stuck in traffic on the freeway and we think 'right, I've got the opportunity to do other things'.

"The reality is you're taking your attention off the road and when you're driving your attention needs to be on the steering wheel and on what's happening around you."

Under current laws, careless drivers face a maximum $600 fine.

Mr Davies said that was not good enough.

"I mean if that was your daughter, father, mother, son ... you wouldn't be very satisfied with that penalty," he said.

"There may not be any malice involved from the individual who caused the crash, but there has to be responsibility.

"When we sign up for a driver's license it's not just 'here you go, thanks for coming'.

"We've got to accept the responsibility that comes along with that as well."

Ms Harvey said she hoped to introduce the new legislation to State Parliament before the end of the year.