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", 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.

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.