With parole, Jason Alan Blow could serve as little as 17 months in jail for reversing into 74-year-old Gemma Notarianni, then driving off, on November 22 last year.

Blow was handed the sentence after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the incident, including dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop after a collision.

Mrs Notarianni's daughter, Maria Antunez, said her family considered the sentence "inadequate for the loss of our mother's life".

It was wrong for Blow to have received a reduced sentence as reward for simply admitting his guilt, she said.

"When is our legal system going to understand the views of victims in such cases? Each case should be treated on the facts of the actual offence because it is the legal system that victims rely on," Mrs Antunez said.

"Why is it repeat offenders can get 'discounts' on their sentences and then keep reoffending?"

Mrs Notarianni was looking for traffic from the expected direction when she crossed busy Cowper Street.

She did not see Blow reversing a Toyota Corolla from the opposite direction, having missed his intended turn-off about 20 metres earlier.

Mrs Notarianni was knocked to the ground, suffering a massive brain injury. She died in hospital two days later.

It was more than five hours after the event before Blow, then 40, of Unanderra, acknowledged his role to police at an arranged meeting in the car park of Warrawong McDonald's. 

On November 15 this year, Wollongong District Court Judge Paul Conlon found Blow - a disqualified driver - had abandoned his responsibility to other road users when he got behind the wheel.

But the judge also accepted Blow was extremely remorseful for what he had done, noting he had told a psychiatrist: "I struggle to come to terms with the fact that I'm responsible for another person's death."

Blow was sentenced to a total of two years and seven months' in jail, with a non-parole period of 17 months.

With time already served, he will be eligible for release in June, to the disbelief of Mrs Antunez.

"This disqualified driver has been given yet another chance by the courts with what we feel is a light sentence, but our family will suffer for the rest of our lives knowing our mother, who was physically well and living life to the full at the time, was taken by Mr Blow's negligence," Mrs Antunez said.

Mrs Notarianni's 79-year-old husband made the decision to donate his wife's kidneys after her death.

A victim impact statement read to the court by Fulvia Nisyrios, another of the Notariannis' children, revealed the ongoing toll of the tragedy.

"Mum was married to dad for 55 years and did everything for him ... her death has shattered our dad," Mrs Nisyrios said.

She said her father was a "pale shadow of his former self" as a result of the incident.

"He is in agony," she said. "He doesn't get any joy from living any more ... His grief is endless."