Teenagers face driving charges over Ponsonby Rd death

The grieving family of an Auckland mother allegedly run down by a teenager street racing on Ponsonby Rd have joined the growing chorus of calls for the driver licensing age to be raised.

Nicole Mace, a 37-year-old landscape designer from Grey Lynn, was thrown 40m after being hit on the flush median while crossing Ponsonby Road in May.

Police have now revealed two teenagers, aged 17 and 19, have been charged under the 2003 Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Act with "operating a vehicle in a race".

The 17-year-old is also facing a charge of dangerous driving causing death while the 19-year-old is charged with being a party to dangerous driving. The pair make their first appearance in the Auckland District Court on Thursday.

In the wake of the tragedy, Ms Mace's family are calling for the legal driving age to be raised and for the cars of teenagers caught racing to be confiscated permanently.

"Imagine being a 22-month-old baby who has lost the person who is most close to them," said Ms Mace's mother-in-law, Joy Mace. She often heard Ms Mace's son, Forrest, saying quietly to himself "Mummy died" when they were in the car together.

It is alleged Ms Mace was run down by the 17-year-old Ranui apprentice panelbeater who was street racing in a 1996 Nissan Skyline against the 19-year-old Grey Lynn student.

Witnesses to the collision reported hearing the screech of brakes and a thump before Ms Mace was thrown through the air.

Although she survived the initial impact, she was taken off life support less than a day after reaching hospital.

The charges against the pair follow last Friday night's crash in Hastings, which claimed the lives of teenagers Dylan Scott Brittin, 16, Michael Neil Jeffries, 16, Che Orbell, 17, and Alex Scales, 14.

The car in which the teenagers were travelling lost control just after a passing manoeuvre made at high speed. None of the teenagers was wearing seatbelts and Orbell only had a restricted licence.

The crash was the sixth high-profile incident this year involving teenagers and speed and prompted calls last week from politicians and road safety groups for a review of driving licensing laws. At 15, New Zealand has the lowest driving age in the world.

Ms Mace's family said the landscape designer was a popular member of the Devonport and Ponsonby communities and her death had had "a horrendous impact". She ran a flower stall between 1991 and 1998 and in 2001 won a gold medal at the Ellerslie Flower Show.

More than 500 people attended her funeral and a street memorial was established in her honour in Devonport following her death.

Joy Mace said her son Bevan was devastated after having to explain to Forrest what had happened to his mother.

"Starship advised him to tell him: Mummy loves you very much, but mummy has gone and she won't be coming back, and the reason she won't be coming back is that she has died."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY