Drivers who flee the scene of a fatal accident because they have been drinking should face a longer mandatory minimum prison sentence than if they remain at the scene.

But it’s up to the Pennsylvania Legislature to beef up state law to reflect that thinking.

Concerns that doing that might contribute to more-crowded prisons shouldn’t outweigh the longer punishment that’s merited — and currently being discussed in Harrisburg.

Punishment should fit the crime, but Pennsylvania law currently is upside down on this issue.

Currently, people convicted of driving under the influence in a fatal accident face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of three years, while those who leave the scene and are caught after the alcohol has left their system usually can be charged only with fleeing the scene, which carries a one-year minimum term.

Upping the leaving-the-scene mandatory minimum penalty to four or five years — when investigators are able to prove that a driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time of a crash — would provide the incentive to remain at the accident site, rather than disappearing from it.

That said, it must be acknowledged that many individuals, caught up in such a situation and maybe in panic over what has occurred, especially if they escaped injury, would not be focused on the legal ramifications of the two choices with which they would be faced.

But presumably broader public awareness would develop over time within the drunken-driving “community” of the consequences tied to the two choices — specifically, that leaving would be more costly than not fleeing the scene.

An aide to state Sen. Mike Stack, D-Phila., said last week he would reintroduce legislation to impose a mandatory one-year minimum sentence for a hit-and-run resulting in serious injury, and a three-year minimum term for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Although no panacea, the proposal deserves serious consideration, unless a tougher proposal for those who flee emerges.

Stack’s proposal is better than sticking with the status quo.