Who is Derek Kieper?

[Stella_Artois]

Who is Derek Kieper? I hear you ask.

Derek Kieper was a college student that felt very strongly about a lot of things, in particular he felt very strongly agains the policy of forcing people to wear seatbelts. In fact He wrote an article on it. You can read about it HERE

I'll quote a few sections from the article.


Quote:
No law, or set of laws, has made the government more intrusive and ridiculous than seat belt legislation. Nothing is a bigger affront to the ideas of freedom, liberty, yada, yada, yada. Whether you are a pinko liberal or a right-wing whack job, there are plenty of reasons for just saying to hell with seat belt laws.



Ok! lets hear these reasons mister!


Quote:
he government budgets $13.4 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the U.S. Department of Transportation for educating the public about safety belt laws.



ooh lots of money....


Quote:
The government also dispenses $25 million in grants to local law enforcement to increase the usage rate of seat belts. Even the Lincoln Police Department got a grant to help enforce the safety belt laws – lucky us.



even more money....


Quote:
Most ridiculous, though, is the $100 million doled out to states that have primary seat belt laws – these are the laws that say you can be pulled over for simply not wearing your seat belt.



getting expensive....


Quote:
If one is doing the math, that is more than $138 million spent on seat belt laws.



Your right, that is a lot!

But surely all this money is well spent right? it does save lives right?


Quote:
But the kicker is this: It is estimated, by researchers for Congress, that only 6,100 lives are saved per year because of new seat belt wearers.


Oh ok... only 6,100 lives...hardly seems worth it then


Quote:
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.



RIGHT ON BROTHER!!`1

You can read the rest yourself, he carries on with a rant about the fact that if he chooses to, and again I quote, "flirt with death and ride around with my seat belt off, I should be able to do that"

First thing is he doesnt back up his "facts" about spending, neither does he consider the cost of the aftermath when these people do crash or the emotional toll on those involved, relatives, passengers etc. What if he's sat in the back of a car being a rebel not wearing his seatbelt, the car crashes he kills the person in front....still it's ok, it's his right to choose to not wear it?

Chances are he would change his tune if he was ever involved in an accident whilst not wearing his seatbelt.......

Oh, hang on, WHAT'S THIS?


Quote:
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.




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




Quote:
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.




Quote:
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.

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/01/04/local/doc41db350078259784029686.txt

I wonder if his opinion is changed, as he looks down on his body ?