Lawyers for a teenager have insisted his driving was not dangerous, despite "zoning out" before a crash causing the deaths of three people in South Australia's South East.
The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named, has pleaded not guilty in the Youth Court to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Millicent residents Ned and Nan Walker and their daughter Sue Skeer were killed in the head-on collision on the Princes Highway at Suttontown, near Mount Gambier, in November 2020.
The learner driver's lawyer, Bill Boucaut QC, accepted his client had been driving badly and without proper care when his four-wheel drive drifted onto the wrong side of the road and collided with the victims' SUV.
"He zoned out … it is clear he immediately corrected it when he realised it," Mr Boucaut said.
"He's not texting on the mobile phone, yapping to people in the back of the car, fiddling with the music and the boom, boom, boom of the music that one so often hears when young people go past with their windows down."
Mr Boucaut also said there was "no shred of evidence" the boy's autism, ADHD and Tourette syndrome had any role to play in the crash.
"Not all bad driving is dangerous driving," he said.
"All bad driving causes the potential for there to be an accident, that is not to say it is dangerous driving."
'Inattention on a road is dangerous'
Prosecutor Aimee Winra accepted all drivers made mistakes and nobody was perfect.
"The prosecution says the driving in this case went beyond what can be considered driving without due care," she said.
Ms Winra said comments made by the boy had been captured on police body-worn cameras at the crash site.
"I actually started to think about school, and I started to zone out thinking about that, started going off my lane and the other person tried to avoid us," the boy reportedly said.
"I tried to get back in the lane and then we were both going in the same direction."
Ms Winra said data from the vehicle showed the boy did not apply the brakes until 0.7 seconds before impact.
"Gross inattention for whatever reason on a road is dangerous," she said.
Judge Penny Eldridge is expected to reveal her verdict next month.
