For the third time in a few weeks, a tourist's carelessness behind the wheel has led to a driving-death charge in the Christchurch District Court.

Alexander Spear McBrien, a 22-year-old American post-graduate student from Amesbury, Massachusetts, was still in Christchurch Hospital today when he pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving causing death.

He was riding a hired 650cc Suzuki motorcycle on the wrong side of the road as he crested a hill near Glenroy on State Highway 77, in the Selwyn District, Canterbury.

He collided head-on with Shane Lawrence Gordon, a 22-year-old father-of-two from Tinwald, who was killed instantly.

Defence counsel Rob Harrison entered the guilty plea on McBrien's behalf and said his client had no recollection of the crash but accepted he was in the wrong.

He was very seriously injured in the accident himself and would now have to be medevac-ed to the United States. His mother had come to New Zealand to be with him during his recovery from the December 23 crash.

Mr Harrison said McBrien's parents were teachers, and had suffered some losses in a housefire 18 months ago which had not been fully covered by insurance. Through a bankcard, $10,000 was available from the parents for reparations.

Prosecutor Stewart Sluis said McBrien had been working in Antarctica and hired a motorcycle in Christchurch to tour the South Island on a three-day break.

He was given a comprehensive three-hour Powerpoint presentation on New Zealand roads and conditions, with emphasis on keeping left.

But near Glenroy he moved to the incorrect side on a left corner and had not moved back before the next corner where the road reached the brow of a hill. The head-on crash happened there.

Reparation of $8000 was sought for Mr Gordon's uninsured motorcycle.

Mr Harrison said McBrien was horrified by the loss suffered by the man's family. The loss had scarred him deeply and he felt very regretful.

Judge Jane Farish said Mr Gordon's wife was struggling financially before life insurance would be paid out. She struggled to cover the mortgage on 60 percent of the wage she was used to having.

She was also frightened of going out of her home for fear of being killed, and was petrified of getting into a motor vehicle.

It was not known if McBrien would recover the use of an arm, and whether he would fully recover from his head injuries enough to resume his studies or to work.

A report from the neurological team at Christchurch Hospital said he was unfit to attend court.

"He is going to be permanently scarred both physically and emotionally by this incident," she said.

Mr Gordon's partner and his father were not vengeful and wanted McBrien returned to the United States rather than being imprisoned.

"A moment's inattention has blighted two families, and killed one man," the judge said.

She convicted McBrien and ordered him to make an immediate payment of $10,000 for emotion harm to Mr Gordon's family.

Last month, an Austrian tourist admitted flipping a campervan and hitting four motorcyclists in South Canterbury, and a last week a Japanese tourist admitted killing a passenger when she rolled a hired car on the Mount Cook Road.

The three tourists have admitted six deaths caused by careless driving in the last six weeks. Five of the six killed have been motorcyclists.