Their names are John Barber, David Cox, Jonathan Coombe, Ngatokoitu Tapora and Blaithin Page.

Between them they are responsible for the deaths of nine people on New Zealand's roads, the youngest just two months old, the oldest 87, and all have been convicted of numerous charges including operating a vehicle carelessly causing death.

The maximum penalty for that offence is three months imprisonment, but none of them will see the inside of a jail.

All five were sentenced across May and June this year, with sentences ranging from 100 hours to 260 hours community work, with reparation payments ranging from $5000 to $21,000.

The longest driving ban, imposed on Cox after he killed three road workers; Dudley Sole Raroa, David Reginald Te Wira Eparaima and Haki Graham Hiha, was 21 months.

Cox was a professional driver making a routine delivery of furniture when he had a lapse in judgement, clipped the side of a parked Higgins truck which flipped and crushed the three men.

Barber was also a professional truck driver when, on the Desert Rd on March 30 last year, crashed into a car killing two-month-old Radeen Mosaferi and four-year-old Arteen Mosaferi.

At his sentencing on May 29 this year to three months community detention, 150 hours community work, $5000 reparation payments and a 12-month driving ban, Dr Mohadeseh Sharifi, the children's mother, branded the penalty an insult.

"We can't see any kind of justice. [The truck driver] made the decision to go out and drive while fatigued. The judge is just allowing it."

She also revealed the terrible emotional toll of the crash, saying she often wakes screaming from horrific flashbacks.

That lack of justice was also felt by relatives of Jeremy Kaukasi and Taylor Charles King, killed by a Metro Airport bus in South Auckland being driven by Ngatokoitu Tapora, who ran a red light on April 14, last year.

She was sentenced on May 30 to 260 hours community work, $8000 reparation payment and a 12 month driving ban.

"It's clear that many families do not feel justice has been served," says Caroline Perry, spokesperson for road safety group Brake.

"Whilst individual cases have differences, there should be severe penalties if your actions on the road result in the death or injury of another person, and we need to be sending a clear message that if you kill or injure someone on the road, there are serious consequences."

Caroline says the maximum penalty available to the courts for careless driving causing death charges was low compared to overseas countries.

"In the UK the maximum sentence is five years imprisonment, in Western Australia it's three years."

Her call was echoed by National Justice spokesperson Mark Mitchell.

"When innocent people have been killed as a result of dangerous or careless driving it should be the exception, not the rule, that the person responsible doesn't receive some term of imprisonment as part of their sentence," he says.

"The views of victims' families must be at the heart of sentencing decisions, and they must leave the court process feeling justice has been delivered fairly.

"This Government's soft-on-crime, catch-and-release language will be sending a strong signal that risks being reflected in light sentences, and the early release of offenders. National's position is to be tough on crime and keep victims at the heart of our criminal justice system."

Barber's sentence was also criticised by Hamilton East MP David Bennett.

"This is certainly a case that highlights that the penalty is too low in some cases," he says.

And according to Police Association president Chris Cahill, safety on New Zealand road's "isn't getting any better, that's for sure".

"Certainly distracted drivers and inattentive drivers are significant factors in accidents and deaths," he says.

Chris says he sympathised with families who felt they had been let down by the courts, but "I can see the judge's point of view that locking them up isn't going to change the result".

He also questioned whether given the nature of careless driving offences, as opposed to deliberate dangerous conduct, they could be lessened by harsher penalties.

Nick Leggett, the chief executive of the Road Transport Forum, says members were increasingly seeing other road users distracted by mobile phone use, and agreed a new focus on road safety was needed.

He says more investment was needed in roads, fixing potholes and education about driver behaviour.

Caroline also says a number of measures needed to be looked at to make New Zealand roads safer, citing a need for more safety features such as median barriers, lower speed limits and higher minimum safety standards for vehicles.

She also says each road death in New Zealand has "significant long term effects on families".

"Those families want and deserve justice for their loved ones," she says.

"Whilst it won't bring them back, they deserve to feel that there are serious and appropriate consequences for the driver who has caused the death of their loved one."

Minister of Justice Andrew Little declined a request for comment for this story.

-Stuff.co.nz/Ben Bathgate.