Joanne Lee Sly, 48, was committed for trial on three charges after Tamworth Local Court heard evidence she allegedly crossed the centre line and collided with an oncoming car near Boggabri last year.

Sly is accused of three counts of dangerous driving including occasioning death as well as grievous bodily harm, by driving in a manner dangerous.

The crash occurred between 6.45 and 6.50pm on April 2, last year, at Boggabri, on the Kamilaroi Highway.

The court heard Sly was behind the wheel of the southbound red Toyota Camry when it collided with a northbound Honda Civic.

An 18-year-old Narrabri man, who was a backseat passenger in the Civic, died at the scene. The driver and two other passengers were taken to hospital.

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The crash investigator, after examinations of the road, wrecks and witness statements, found the accused allegedly crossed the centre line, which wasn’t marked on the road after recent roadworks.

Magistrate Julie Soars said the crux of the case was whether Sly was driving in a manner dangerous to other persons. It’s the Crown’s case that Sly breached “the proper management of the vehicle” and “created a real danger” with the manner of her driving.

The Crown said a “greater level of care was expected” and relied on an admission by Sly at the scene “that she failed to see the victim's headlights" until just prior to the impact.

The Crown submitted the Camry didn’t just pass over the centre of the road, it “did significantly” into the path of the oncoming vehicle.

Ms Soars said, on the evidence, the crash occurred on a left-hand sweeping curve that had recently been resurfaced, and the victim’s car “braked harshly" when seeing the oncoming headlights.

Ms Soars said the case raised a number of questions including: why there wasn't a lower speed limit applied to the road which was undergoing roadworks; the road was marked without lines; and the difficulty in being able to see reflective markers.

“They're not matters for this court,” she said.

“But they go to the circumstances that the accused found herself in … and go to the moral culpability and the objective seriousness".

Ms Soars said “based on the fact that there is evidence ... the accused crossed the notional middle line and the collision occurred in the northbound lane”, a jury, properly instructed, could convict on a charge because the accused “appears to have been travelling straight ahead and missed the sweeping curve".

Back up charges of causing bodily harm by misconduct were withdrawn by prosecutors and Sly has been ordered to appear in Tamworth District Court later this month to enter pleas.

She remains on bail.