A court has heard it was "sheer luck" that a drunk driver who used his car as a weapon in a road rage incident in Adelaide's south did not kill anyone.
Ryan Simpson, 40, pleaded guilty to several offences, including acts likely to cause serious harm and driving under the influence.
The District Court heard Chloe Lyons, 23, was on her way out to breakfast in June last year when she pulled out into traffic in front of Simpson.
Simpson reversed into Ms Lyon's car on Commercial Road at Seaford while she was stopped at traffic lights because "she was driving under the speed limit".
He then sped off, performed a U-turn, and drove on the wrong side of the road back into Ms Lyon's car at about 50 kilometres an hour.
The prosecutor told the court Simpson's car was bigger with a bull bar and the Moana man did not brake or slow down before the collision.
"This was outrageous, dangerous, malicious behaviour," she told the court.
"It was sheer luck that no one was seriously injured or killed.
"This is a serious example of road rage, and the community needs to be protected from this sort of offending."
Simpson also drove at a witness filming the incident, who had to jump out the way "to avoid being struck".
Simpson apologised to his victims, telling the court he was "embarrassed and disgusted" by his behaviour and had been using alcohol to mask his mental health issues.
"If I could go back and change what I did then I would but unfortunately I cannot," he said.
"I can't begin to imagine how badly my victims and their families felt on that morning and continue to feel after my absurd behaviour.
The court heard Simpson self-admitted to a psychiatric hospital some time prior to the attack, but was not diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder until after the crime.
His lawyer told the court Simpson accepted his behaviour was dangerous, but he had no recollection as to why he was driving that day after consuming "a large amount of alcohol".
"In no way does it justify his behaviour," his lawyer said.
"The fact the trigger for this behaviour was so minor really demonstrates how on edge Mr Simpson was with his underlying mental health issues he didn't know about at the time.
"It was an uncharacteristic explosive response to really a minor inconvenience."
The prosecutor told the court Simpson had previous drink-driving convictions.
Simpson has been remanded in custody since his arrest in June 2021.
Outside court, Ms Lyons said she did not believe Simpson's apology was genuine.
She said she was on the phone to her dad screaming during the ordeal.
"He was raging at me, trying to swerve into me, threatening to slit my throat, then he reversed into me, drove through a red light, U-turned and then came at me with his foot on the pedal," she said.
"I just grabbed at my steering wheel and braced.
"I don't like getting in small cars, I don't like driving near cars with bull bars and I don't like stopping at those same set of traffic lights."
Simpson will be sentenced next month.
