The truck driver whose "erratic" driving led to a horror five-car collision and the death of a man was on a suicide mission and under the influence of the drug "ice", Â the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told on Saturday night.
Detective Sergeant Andrew Lawrence said a blood sample taken after the Thursday morning collision on the Calder Freeway revealed the driver, Michael Templeton, tested positive for methamphetamine.
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Fatal crash on Calder creates traffic chaos
One person has died in a multi-vehicle smash on the Calder as two separate car fires across Melbourne bring peak-hour traffic to a standstill. Courtesy Seven Melbourne.
He told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that Templeton, 30, and of no fixed address, was attempting suicide by swerving his freight tip truck erratically between lanes on the in-bound section of the freeway, near Kings Road in Taylors Lakes.
"He left an insufficient gap between the car in front, a white Toyota utility, that was driving in slow-moving traffic," he said.
"The impact was that the ute went under the tipper and the driver was killed instantly."
The man killed was Kari-Pekka Maunus.
Templeton was charged with culpable driving causing death at the committal mention held at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
He did not apply for bail, telling Magistrate Robert Kumar, "I don't think I'd be successful with bail".
Templeton, who appeared in court flushed, wearing a large red T-shirt.
On Thursday morning Templeton was driving an unloaded 2008 freight tip truck towards the city about 6.30am. Â
The impact of the collision with Mr Maunus' ute caused the three cars in front to collide, injuring another driver who was taken to Sunshine hospital with  minor injuries.
Magistrate Kumar said Templeton could be given assistance for his "psychiatric illness" while in custody.Â
Markus Maunus, one of Kari-Pekka Maunus' six children, said the family is struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.
"I mean you can't fix this, so what do you do? I don't know," he told Channel 7.
Mr Maunus said his father, a 49-year-old boilermaker, lived for his close-knit family. He had often complained about unsafe behaviour on the roads.
"He was often frustrated with the way people drive, drivers hogging lanes, truck drivers just cutting people off."