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I believe that by the time you got through with everything that you wanted to do to make this thing safe , it wouldn ' t be nearly as much fun to ride . Because a good part of the popularity of this ve hicle comes about not only from its apparent safety , but from the fact that the riders are tempted to try things on it which look like they should be fun .

I think this is true regardless , by the way , of the age of the oper ator . One of the complications that you may have to deal with is the fact that there is already a toy manufacturer , at least one , who is making a replica of the Honda Big Red . And I saw one of those just a couple of days ago . It is marketed for kids 4 to 7 , and it is in the toy field .

Mr . BARNARD . Putting a battery , I believe , in it to operate it .

Mr . MENKES . It has got a battery and an electric motor . But that is going to have to be analyzed and considered by other people than you , I think , in this case .

As I say , I believe you could do some things . But I believe that the problem that you have of regulation and of dealing with the difficulties of the need to make instantaneous decisions , and of the fact that the penalty for making the wrong decision is really pretty rough , that I don ' t think that this committee has any good recourse for dealing with the problem unless the manufacture of the vehi cles is banned and unless they are withdrawn , because you cannot cope with what is out there all over the country . You just can ' t cope with a variety of situations , the number of different kinds of people involved .

Regulation is something which is very hard to make happen cor rectly . In my State , we have a mandatory seat belt law - in New York State and in New Jersey — and at last count only 60 percent of the people are actually wearing the seat belts . People don ' t listen , necessarily , to the Government when they say you must do this and you must do that . That is my concern .

Thank you . [ The prepared statement of Mr . Menkes follows : ]