Seat-belt laws infringe on human rights

[OICW]

Or so said this guy, until he died in an accident that he may have survived had he worn a seat-belt. Give him credit for following through with his views though...

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/...9784029686.txt

Derek Kieper was a smart, funny, intense young man who relished a good debate and would do anything for his friends.

Kieper, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, died early Tuesday morning when the Ford Explorer he was a passenger in travelled off an icy section of Interstate 80 and rolled several times in a ditch. Kieper, who was riding in the back seat of the Explorer, was ejected from the vehicle.

Two others in the vehicle, including the driver, Luke Havermann of Ogallala, and the front-seat passenger, Nick Uphoff of Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, sustained non-life threatening injuries. Havermann and Uphoff, both 21, were being treated at BryanLGH Medical Center West.

The three men, members of the same UNL fraternity, were returning to Lincoln from San Antonio, Texas at the time of the accident, reported to authorities by a truck driver around 3 a.m.

"At this point in time, I'm in shock," Kieper's father, Paul Kieper, said in an interview Tuesday.

"He was a bright young boy, a 4.0," Paul Kieper said. "He loved to be silly. He loved to debate."

Paul Kieper said his son graduated from North Platte High School in 2002. When Derek Kieper came to Lincoln for college, the elder Kieper moved here, too.

Derek Kieper played on the defensive line for the North Platte High School football team, his father said. At UNL, Derek took on five majors — history, psychology, economics, sociology and political science — and had plans to attend law school.

Last year, Derek attended a summer program in economics at Oxford University in England.

"He loved it," Paul Kieper said. "It was his first time with travel abroad."

Kade Pittman, a friend of Derek since seventh grade, said Derek was a true friend.

"He'd do anything for anybody," he said. "He was really funny, extremely intelligent. He'd tutor me in classes he didn't even take."

Pittman said he last saw Derek shortly before Derek headed off to Texas for Christmas break.

"It's really tragic," Pittman said. "He's really going to be missed."

Capt. Joe Lefler of the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office said Havermann was driving the Explorer east on the interstate near Northwest 48th Street when the vehicle went out of control on the ice-covered road. He said the vehicle travelled into the south ditch and rolled several times.

A truck driver headed in the same direction witnessed the accident and called 911, Lefler said. He said alcohol did not play a role in the accident, but he declined to discuss how fast the Explorer was travelling.

Derek, who was thrown from the vehicle, was not wearing a seat belt, Lefler said. He said Havermann and Uphoff were wearing seat belts at the time.

In a column written for the Daily Nebraskan in September, Derek attacked seat belt laws as intrusions on individual liberties and expensive to enforce.

"It is my choice what type of safety precautions I take," he wrote.

"There seems to be a die-hard group of non-wearers out there who simply do not wish to buckle up no matter what the government does. I belong to this group."

Erica Rogers, opinion page editor at the Daily Nebraskan, said Derek's brains and intensity would be missed. Kieper and Rogers had lively political debates, she said.

"He had a Republican focus on economic issues," she said. "He was aggressive. He was really intense.

"He was a very engaging student. I'm sure UNL will be at a loss."

Here's a link to the article he wrote;

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/vnews/...d?in_archive=1

[TheShiningWizard]

Of all the things to die for, he chooses seat belts, or lack thereof. Silly, silly, silly.

[cracwhore]

Haha. What a faggot.

[Arethusa]

Well you sure are easily amused.

Really, I have to agree with TSW. Of all things to die for, this is just silly as hell. This juxtaposed with his ostensible intelligence would be funny if it weren't so goddamn passe. It's not funny; it's just precisely lame.

[GenoOfTheCrayon]

Arethusa, you reminds me of one of those dudes who sit in a coffee shop wearing a black beret, talking about modern art.

"Juxtaposed". What the hell is "juxtaposed", anyways?

[Arethusa]

I prefer the term, 'jaunty chapeau.'

[Farouk]

I think most anti-seat-belt-types are missing the point big time. It's not only to protect yourself, but also others. In a crash without seat belt your body becomes a ****ing several kilogramms heavy missile flying through the air with a quite high velocity.
Anyone hit by it is as toast as the moron himself.

Laws against such dangerous stupidity are perfectly fine on public streets. If you want to drive without safety measures do so as much as you want on your private property.

[JaFO]

It's sad he's dead, because I'd love to have seen what a guy like that would have said if he was crippled for life instead of dead.

[Zundfolge]

Irony defined.


Anyway ... I happen to disagree with seatbelt laws, but all too often people on both sides of the issue confuse seatbelt laws with seatbelt use.

I think one is a fool to not use their seatbelt, but one is just as big a fool to want their government to force them to use them.

[Approx]

This is sad. Why didn't he just wear his goddamned seatbelt? What the fuck, was it too hard?! Way to go, Derek, because of your obstinate, retarded views, several people have to suffer the loss of a friend, son, brother, etc...way to stick it to the man.

That said, I dislike seatbelt laws as well. While I believe that anyone who willingly chooses not to wear a seatbelt is an ass, I don't like the idea of Mr. Law forcing people to wear them.

My former roommate got pulled over three times in one week right after the law passed in Oklahoma. He was wearing his seatbelt, but he drives an older truck that has lap belts but no shoulder belts. Since the cop couldn't see a shoulder belt, he assumed my roommate wasn't wearing a seatbelt at all. Three times in one week; and all the harrassment over something that shouldn't be any of Mr. Law's goddamn business in the first place.

Also, I'm not believing that the state just all the sudden became overwhelmingly concerned with my safety. The seatbelt laws give the police one more thing they can pull me over and ticket me for. And hey, while they've got me stopped to check out my seatbelt situation, maybe they can find some other inane things wrong with my car to charge me for.

[TheShiningWizard]

Originally Posted by GenoOfTheCrayon

Arethusa, you reminds me of one of those dudes who sit in a coffee shop wearing a black beret, talking about modern art.

[Meplat]

If one is over 18, and wants to roll the dice, fine. Like riding a motorcycle without a helmet, (or in shorts and a t-shirt) it's YOUR ass.

Trouble is, people will apply this to their kids. It's BAD here, with entire families being shipped around in the back of a pickup. Even if they have a SUV or car, there'll be a half dozen kids in the car, secured only by wishful thinking .

In short, if you're stupid enough to not take advantage of an offered safety device, fine. Just don't kill someone else in the process.

[Kuroshio Apocal]

"...was ejected from the vehicle."

Always the sign of a very macho driver.

[Crazy_Ivan]

wasn't there a rule in the states that the airbag alone should be enough to prevent injury up to a certain speed?

Personally, i would say that not wearing seatbelt is worse compared to driving a motorcycle whitout a helmet. with the last, the chance that the rest of the population of the country you live in will have to pay the living costs for the bits that are left of you is negligible

[OICW]

I thought that in some crashes, airbags tended to actually cause injuries in smaller drivers and passengers not wearing seatbelts since they were closer to the bag when it deployed? I recall an article about how it was an issue for airbag designers in the states.

[Keganator]

The reason why seatbelt laws were put into place in the first place was because there *were* vanful of kids jumping and bouncing around in the back seat right before a crash...and then found flung out the front window after. If you don't want to wear seatbelts, it's your funeral.

[Cunubelin]

I think it would be better to remove the airbag completely and replace it with a sawed off shotgun. That way you won't suffer and the genepool becomes a tad cleaner...

[Taque]

I think the airbag alone will prevent injury up to a speed of 2 mph. (no, I don't think it'll deploy at that speed) Yeah, I'm quite sure that an airbag alone would actually cause more injury since you're flying towards it rather than being restrained somewhat, increasing the force.

[GenoOfTheCrayon]

Hitting an airbag at 60 miles per hour is better than hitting the windshield at 60 miles per hour.

Still, either way, seatbelts come in handy.

[Approx]

I tend to agree with you Geno, but that isn't entirely correct. The windshield is just sitting there minding it's own business, but the airbag is flying and expanding at your face at an extremely high rate of speed. Thus, the forces involved in the two situations are different. Still though, I'd take the airbag over the windshield any day.