A NEW bride was "young, bulletproof and in love" when she killed her husband of three months in a horror road smash, a court heard today.

Tanya Lee Mitchell, 26, was today sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for the 2010 crash that killed her husband Sandeep Singh.

The tragedy has sparked warnings from County Court Judge Geoffrey Chetlle: "If you drink and drive . . . and you kill someone, you will go to jail."

Frustrated police have also called for Victorians to get serious about the road toll and heed warnings from road safety campaigns.

Mitchell had been driving at up to 94km/h in a 60km/h zone along Milleara Rd, East Keilor when she lost control of the car and ploughed into a fence in August 2010.

Her blood-alcohol level was measured at .077 just over an hour after the crash.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

During a plea hearing yesterday, defence counsel Warwick Walsh-Buckley appealed for a wholly suspended sentence, saying his client had been punished by the loss of her husband.

Judge Chettle agreed Mitchell would carry for life the burden of guilt over Mr Singh’s death, saying she had felt a "crushing sense of responsibility for the death of a man she loved".

"(You have) clearly been crippled by grief and remorse," he said.

But Judge Chettle said the community had to understand that drink-driving was never acceptable.

"You were speeding, you had been drinking. Those factors in my view aggravate your offending," he told Mitchell.

"A motor vehicle is a deadly instrument."

Judge Chettle said that despite extensive TAC campaigns about the dangers of drink-driving and speeding, Mitchell had believed she was "young, bulletproof and in love".

He said while Mitchell had "excellent" prospects for rehabilitation and had no criminal record, she must serve a jail term.

She was jailed for two years and six months and must serve 12 months immediately.

The remainder of the sentence was suspended.

Outside court, Major Collision Investigation Unit Sen-Constable Lindon Walker said it was time the community got serious about the road toll.

"This is a perfect example to Victorians to what can happen if you drink and drive and you speed when you’re driving," he said.

"There’s no winners in this case. If you do those things and someone dies, you’re going to go to jail."

Sen-Constable Walker said too many people believed "it won’t happen to me".

"It can happen to you and it can happen to others," he said.

"This girl was married for three months, she’s killed her husband, she’s devastated and added to that she has to go to jail."

Originally published as Wife jailed over husband's death