Students at West Virginia University are fighting for a new student organization to show the dangers of not wearing a seat belt.
Wear A Seat Belt was created by Jane Shuman, mother of William "Willy" Albert Shuman, who died in a car accident while driving with a drunken driver June 20.
Willy had just graduated from George Washington High School in Charleston and would have departed to the Air Force Academy four days after his accident. He graduated seventh in his class and committed to the varsity tennis team at the Air Force Academy.
"I will always wonder why the seat belt wasn’t on that day," Jane said. "He was in the car with a drunken driver, and he didn’t put it on."
The campaign, which hopes to remind people to buckle up, has been promoted in many ways. WVU’s Police Department has spoken at events. Facebook groups, key chains, shirts, signs and stickers have been posted to remind people to wear seat belts, as well.
The sticker features the colors of the Air Force Academy in a tennis ball with the letters WAS through it.
"The sticker also makes it more emotional. It brings it toward you like the tennis ball sticker. You can see it is someone young. It is more an emotional field," said Kathleen Barber, freshman exercise physiology major at WVU.
Freshman pre-nursing major Emily Halen also noticed something interesting about WAS – those are Willy’s initials.
While the campaign is run by four WVU freshman and Willy’s parents, it focuses on wearing a seat belt, and it also touches on topics of drinking and speeding.
The organization at WVU has yet to find an adviser who will help with the paperwork needed to file as a student organization, according to freshman pre-business and economics major Sam Frontino. Once finished, the group will set up booths in the Mountainlair and post signs throughout campus.
The Facebook group, with more than 1,200 members and www.thewillyfoundation.org, allow students to join the campaign.
"The friends I’ve met here and I’ve told Willy’s story to joined the group," said Anna Davis, a freshman with an undeclared major. "I was creeping on their Facebook page and saw they joined."
Those promoting the campaign hope it will prevent others from Willy’s fate.
"It’s just one simple thing you just have to put it on," Frontino said. "It’s not uncomfortable, it’s not like it takes 10 minutes to put it on, you just put it on and it clicks."
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