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Mrs . Crisp ?

STATEMENT OF SANDRA CRISP , FORT WASHINGTON , MD Mrs . CRISP . Good morning . My name is Sandra Crisp .

My husband Ron was 43 when his life was taken . I would like to tell you a little bit about the facts as I have heard them . Please bear with me , as I am extremely nervous . All facts are not known by me at this time , but I will try to give you a synopsis on what took place .

On November 23 , 1984 , my husband was on a hunting trip with a group of friends , on their way to tree blinds at approximately 1 : 30 p . m . , having been down this road numerous times in the past 15 years and 3 years with his Yamaha Model 200 . There was no con sumption of alcohol , whatsoever . He was an experienced driver , only in this particular model for the last 3 years . It was a sunny day and the dirt trail was reasonably flat and fairly straight .

According to witnesses , my husband was doing approximately 25 miles per hour when suddenly the vehicle went airborne , did a nosedive with the rear end coming up , throwing my husband against a tree .

My husband was brought to Peninsula General Hospital in Salis bury , MD , where later he was pronounced dead of a traumatic rup ture of the thoracic aorta .

I didn ' t know I had to prepare this . Mr . BARNARD . That is fine .

Mrs . CRISP . This is what I have worked on from the bottom of my heart .

I do not want to take this opportunity to bring up the painful events that happened in our family ' s life last November . I do not want to take up this time to test , to judge or to accuse any one person or manufacturer for the void that has been left in our life since Ron is no longer with us .

I do want to take this opportunity to question and to begin to consider the reasons for an accident that ended the precious life of my husband and my children ' s father . I want to question , because others are here to question with me , the safety , the durability and the handling efficiency of these new machines known as three wheelers that are being sold at an increasing rate to the consumer . I want to ask why . Why does our society and our industry at large have the frightening potential to substitute profit over efficiency , hazardous conditions over the possibility of safety ?

Our Nation stands before us as the proof of protection . We hold before us the ability to hold back foreign invaders . We hold fast to the ideals of keeping our citizens from illegal transportation of drugs that destroy lives . Our country continues to protect us from many forms of danger . I am here to ask our country to protect us from another abuse , another form of destruction that is hazardous to the future and the future of our children .

Can our country begin to adequately protect us against corpora tions who sell consumers goods at a price , sometimes at the price of their own lives ? Ron , in his career first as a body repairman , then as a body shop manager - daily saw the hazards of vehicles after the tragedy of an accident took place . His keen ability to fix any