John Bradley Jan 20th, 2005 Link
No seatbelt…
http://media.ebaumsworld.com/noseatbelt.wmv
ouch.
Anti-Seatbelt Advocate Dies
from not Wearing Seatbelt
Sections: Auto Safety Jan 20th, 2005
Sad and ironic. Not only was he not wearing his seatbelt but he was involved in the classic SUV related fatal accident… the rollover:
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.
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.”
[ I-80 crash claims UNL student's life (Journal Star ]
Written By: Gabe
13 Comments
DPW Jan 26th, 2005 Link
I think this young man deserves….. a Darwin Award!
I’ve read his article, and the newspaper article written after he died - everyone talked about how smart and bright and intelligent and witty he was…………….
I’m…. REALLY inclined to disagree. A smart, bright, intelligent person doesn’t really write poorly worded articles (with grammar that would make Tarzan cringe) AGAINST safety devices, and die as a cause of not using said safety device. Government laws aside, why would someone not want improved odds of living through a crash?
DPW Jan 26th, 2005 Link
P.S.
Before any of you proofreading nitpickers out there point out to me that while I point out our anti-safety advocate’s usee of poor grammar, my own blatant overuse of ellipses marks, in and of itself, bad grammatical writing structure, may I point out two things:
1.) Creative exaggeration is exempt from standard critique as it is made to overemphasize a point.
2.) Ptthhhhhhbbbt!
DPW Jan 26th, 2005 Link
usee=use.
Yes, I proofread it first. No, I didn’t notice it the first time around. Allow me to wipe the egg off my face, abd then reiterate my point, which is still “PTTTHHHBBT”
DPW Jan 26th, 2005 Link
abd=and
You know, you’d think I could get the speeling 100% right just once….
DPW Jan 26th, 2005 Link
Aaaaaand, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m toying with you all.
Karl Ellwein Jan 30th, 2005 Link
How about a Federal law which would require all occupants of a motor vehicle to wear fire resistant clothing, safety helmets, head and neck restraints, and minimum 5-point safety belts.
Karl Ellwein
Paul Kendzior May 9th, 2005 Link
seat belts are like a car condom, we don’t tell that cop in his own bedroom to wear protection. p.s. good point Kerl elwein. we need to llearn that we cannot control life, or death. it simply happens. seat belts as much as they save they have killed or seriously injured. my own brother is out of work because he wore a seatbelt and broke his back. They should not be required to be worn
JLS May 27th, 2005 Link
I agree Paul, we can’t protect everyone all of the time. I, for one, don’t feel comfortable with our government telling me that I “have to” protect myself in a car accident. They’re slowly taking one liberty at a time in this country and since they’re doing it in little pieces we all just agree and go about our business. What step do they take before we say “Wait a minute… aren’t WE in control of our lives anymore?”. By then it’s too late… if they take enough of our liberty then the chance of it returning is slim.
Maybe I’m naive but I thought we lived in a FREE country…. apparantly what our Vets have fought for is the right for our government to govern our everyday choices and make our decisions for us and let’s not forget, the longer we live, the more taxes we pay and the happier Uncle Sam is. :-)
Just some food for thought.
Libertarian Dec 15th, 2005 Link
You’re right JLS, they can’t force us to wear our seat belts!
Let’s move to Los Angeles, and not wear seat belts everyone! It’s our right as idiot Americans!
No more seatbelts May 8th, 2006 Link
It is sad and unfortunate that this young man died, allegedly because he was not wearing his seat belt, but I agree that the seatbelt law is an infringement on our rights as United States Citizens. They (the government) are trying to take away our gun rights, while we carry guns for self defense, yet they will force us to wear a seatbelt, which is supposed to be for safety. Not wearing a seatbelt may be stupid, but it will not injure anyone else if we don’t wear a belt. Why don’t they just make us get bulletproof windows and armor our cars, and have us wear shields??
Tom May 21st, 2006 Link
Hey folks,
I just wanted to point out that I think wearing a seat belt makes great sense, it’s the LAW that I disagee with. Once we have a national healthcare system, coming soon, will the government be able to tell me I can’t have buttered popcorn at the theatre since I have high triglycerides? What won’t they be able to mandate in the effort to protect me from me? If they spent as much time preventing poor driving as they do enforcing seat belt laws we wouldn’t have as many fatal accidents. But let’s see…I won’t be pulled for bald tires, bad brakes, bad windshield wipers, loose steering components, faulty horn, oil leaks, any low fluids, etc. all of which can cause me to hurt someone else. But the government in it’s wisdom chooses to protect me from me. No it’s not just stupid, it’s ludicrous. Again I wear my seat belt much of the time, I just don’t like the law telling me I have to and I question the common sense of those who write such laws. Follow the money trail. Perhaps it’s federal control over states with federal road dollars.
Tom May 21st, 2006 Link
I just went to another “pro seat belt” web site that shows a guy (guess he had a dash cam) dozing off and then crashing and being thrown around in his vehicle. Am I the only one asking the question HOW ABOUT NOT DRIVING WHEN YOU’RE TOO TIRED IDIOT? Have we abandoned all common sense in this country? Perhaps that’ll be next a mandatory law on possessing common sense. Oops…Then we wouldn’t need a seat belt law. We couldn’t have that.
