news-record.com

GREENSBORO - People who see school bus drivers in Guilford County violating seatbelt and cell phone use laws can call a new hotline created by state officials.

School systems in Guilford, Forsyth and Cabarrus counties and Mooresville have volunteered to place stickers with the telephone number on the inside of the vehicles stating the laws and phone number as part of a pilot project.

State laws require that bus drivers wear seatbelts and refrain from talking on cell phones while driving.

"We are aware that either of those violations could lead to safety issues for the students being transported," said Derek Graham, section chief of transportation services for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

Graham said he got the idea for the hotline from the state of Alabama after the investigation of a 2006 wreck that resulted in the deaths of four students. The bus driver involved in that wreck was not wearing a seatbelt.

A Guilford County bus driver died in February from injuries sustained in a December wreck.

She was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the bus after it swerved off the road into a ditch.

Three Guilford bus drivers were disciplined during the 2007-08 school year for talking on cell phones while driving, said Jeff Harris, the district's transportation director.

Graham said fellow bus drivers and students are more likely to catch and report violations than other motorists.

"We don't have a lot of data that says this is going on," he said. "This is really a reminder for the drivers."

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com