Robert Terry: Mr. Chairman, my name is Robert Terry. I was original consultant for this measure when it went through this legislature for about three years.

There's two points that haven't been made today, and I'll quickly point them out.

In my mind, it's societal costs. You've heard numbers of the hospitalization costs and those are factual. There's two other societal costs and they probably equate to what the hospital costs are.

The one is the deep pocket system where the helmetless rider in San Francisco gets hit by an automobile driver who has no insurance or limited insurance and he sues, the motorcyclist sues for a million dollars. The automobile driver doesn't have a million dollars. The smart attorney enjoins the City of San Francisco on specious things such as the surface or the speed limit, and the city attorney says we better settle out of court for five hundred thousand dollars which is consistently happening up and down the state. So there's an area of societal costs which is substantial.

The other one is the thirty-five year old husband, married with two kids, falls off his bike without a helmet and breaks his head. His wife is a legal secretary making forty thousand a year. He makes thirty-five thousand a year. This is just one of many examples that we have in the files. So what happens? He is going to be in a county hospital for the rest of his life and he needs 24-hour a day nursing care. The wife decides just bring him home. I'll take care of him for the rest of his life. She goes on welfare. They go on the A.F.D.C. for the children. They're not paying taxes any more. They're taking out of the trough and so forth.

So those are two societal cost areas, gentlemen of this committee, that are probably as substantial as these hospital fictive costs that you've heard today. Thank you.

Senator Kelley: Yes sir.

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