Crash survivor goes to court over speeding charge

Hawke's Bay teenager Ricky Moulder, who survived a crash that killed four of his friends three months ago, is back driving despite doctors' orders and already facing a boy-racer charge.

The 18-year-old appears in court in Napier tomorrow charged with "showing an unnecessary exhibition of speed" after being pulled over by police two weeks ago.

He was also back driving around boy racer haunts in Hastings last Friday night, despite recently being released from hospital after sustaining severe head injuries from the fatal accident three months ago.

The Hastings crash - in which friend Che Orbell-Pere was driving Moulder's turbo-charged car in breach of his restricted licence - claimed the lives of Orbell-Pere, Dylan Brittin, Alex Scales and Michael Jeffries, and caused serious injuries to Jaddyn Brittin and Moulder.

Since the accident Moulder has:

* bought a $12,000 super-charged 1994 Nissan Silvia car, which has already been confiscated by police

* been charged with "showing an unnecessary exhibition of speed", for which he appears in court tomorrow

* continued to drive since his release from hospital even though doctors say it could lead to other motorists being harmed

* told friends he plans to "carry on drifting" - the practice of sliding cars sideways around corners.

A police charge against Moulder resulting from the way he drove on October 7 means he could lose his licence tomorrow.

He has been summoned to appear in court after allegedly racing his car up behind an unmarked police car.

However, Moulder's father Jeff Moulder is defending his son, saying he is a good driver: "Rick's done nothing wrong at all."

Mr Moulder denied his son had been ordered not to drive.

His son saw a neurosurgeon four weeks ago, who told him that he was "pretty much perfect", but that standard practice was to advise against driving.

The report says: "Given the indication of severe brain injury, normal advice would be that he should not drive for 12 months to ensure post-traumatic amnesia does not result in endangering himself or others".

But Mr Moulder said advice from ACC that his son could return to work as a roofer four hours a week - which involved working on beams at 12-metre heights - led him to believe he was fine to drive.

Mr Moulder said his son was being punished for allowing Orbell-Pere, who had a restricted licence, to drive the car in which the four boys died.

Moulder and the family had been abused and villified, instead of supported, since the local paper ran a "bullshit" story about the boy-racing charge, he said.

"The only thing he's guilty of is having enough brains not to drive a bloody vehicle when he's been drinking, and it's all evolved from that.

"Now he can't even walk into a shop in Hawke's Bay without people pointing fingers." The criticising public needed a "reality check" on his son, who was a good kid who just loved cars and had never had a speeding ticket before.

Mr Moulder said his son had three witnesses who say he was not 'drifting' or driving erratically on October 7.

The only tickets Moulder had received, he said, were one for a loud muffler and three for having a passenger in his car when he was on his restricted licence.

He has had his full licence for almost two years.

Faced with a son who "just wants to get on with his life", Mr Moulder does not believe he can, or should, stop Moulder from driving.

"You can't wrap them up in cotton wool. You just can't. I'd rather have a son as a friend not an enemy. As a parent, I've done everything I can to make sure he drives properly. Where's the danger?

"All he wants to do is just have a nice car and drive it. Sure, he'll rev his car up, but what boy doesn't?"

Yesterday, following the death of an 18-year-old driver - the third fatal crash in the Hawke's Bay in as many days - the region came under scrutiny by police, but Mr Moulder said statistics showed more older people were killed. He believed boy-racers were sometimes unfairly targeted.

"It's not young people that are dying on the roads. Why are they pointing the finger at boy-racers?

"Just because a car killed four people and had mag wheels?"

However, Dylan and Jayyden's mum, Sonja Nicholls, was amazed to hear Ricky Moulder was still driving - and planned to quiz specialists over his injuries and continuing to hold a licence.

"When you have a brain injury is your licence legally taken off you?"

Friends of Moulder's told the Herald on Sunday last week they were angry at the attitude of police, who did not give them an easier time when they were pulled over, despite having lost a number of friends in a string of recent fatal accidents.

One friend also said Moulder was already anticipating getting his Nissan Silvia back.

Moulder had only owned the car for five days before it was confiscated.

He bought it from Taupo resident Nathan Seay, who says it would reach 200 km/h before the engine stopped it going faster.

It also had the angle of the wheels altered, which allowed the car to be lowered below legal limits - making it more prone to sliding.

The car replaced the one in which Ricky Moulder was injured, and four of his friends died.

A former owner of the car that was destroyed in the accident has said it would reach 243 km/h.

The Herald on Sunday has also found that Moulder has owned a third turbo-charged car in the past 12 months.

The current owner of the car, a Honda Integra, said it would go "off the clock" at 190 km/h.

Hastings area commander Inspector Dean Clifford said he was currently exploring the possibility of having letters sent to parents of young drivers when they exceeded the conditions of their licence.

The plan posed some legal problems which were being explored.

Told of Moulder's driving persistance in the face of medical orders, Mr Clifford said it was almost as if there was a "stuff you" attitude among boy-racing drivers.

"They think they own the road," he said of the predominantly young drivers.

The number of road deaths would be vastly reduced, Mr Clifford said, if the number of easily preventable errors such as drink driving, speeding and making unnecessary manoeuvres was reduced.

"You drive dumb and you die.

"People are making the wrong choices."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY