Kieper: "Repeal Seatbelt Laws" 
2005 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Derek Kieper, a 21-year-old college senior, railed against seat belt laws in his college newspaper. Less than six months later, he died after being thrown from an SUV that slipped on ice and rolled over and over into a ditch.
Kieper, riding in the back, wasn't wearing his seatbelt. The driver and front passenger, both wearing theirs, sustained non-threatening injuries. Alcohol wasn't involved in the accident.
Kieper was a 4.0 student pursuing five majors who planned to attend law school after graduation.
You can read the news story on his death on 1/05/2005 from the Lincoln Journal Star:
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/01/05/local/doc41db350078259784029686.txt
His column on seatbelt laws ran in the the Daily Nebraskan, the college newspaper for Nebraska University, on 9/17/2004. That's less than six months before his untimely death.
You can read it here:
http://www.dailynebraskan.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/09/17/414a5a030e91d?in_archive=1
Some highlights:
"...No law, or set of laws, has made the government more intrusive and ridiculous than seat belt legislation. Democrats and Republicans alike should stand together to stop these laws...
"... 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...
"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...
"If I want to be the jerk that flirts with death and rides around with my seat belt off, I should be able to do that..." Submitted on 01/06/2005
Submitted by:
Stacey Capps
Reference:
Lincoln Journal Star 1/05/2005
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