WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools transportation officials said Thursday they are encouraging students, parents and the community to blow the whistle on bus drivers who don't wear seat belts or who chat on the phone while driving, television station WXII reported.

Transportation director Rhonda Flemming said the new measure is being encouraged to avoid what happened in Alabama two years ago, where a driver who wasn't wearing seat belt was thrown from a vehicle that plunged 30 feet down an embankment. Four children died in that crash.

"(A similar crash) is not something we want to investigate in North Carolina," Flemming said. "It's a tragedy and I certainly feel sorry for these children."

Similar crashes have happened locally. A Guilford County driver died earlier this year from injuries she received in a crash last December. She was thrown from the vehicle and officials said she wasn't wearing a seat belt.

Now the state is testing a new program that encourages those who see drivers not wearing seat belts to call and report the driver.

A sticker placed inside every school and bus in Forsyth County will have a number to call.

Drivers caught breaking the rules could face a written warning, suspension, loss of their operators license or even be fired and possibly charged with crime.

Kendra Council, 16, said she supports the new program.

"That's my life that could be in danger if they don't wear their seat belt or are talking on the phone and not paying attention to the road," she said. "That would be my life."

Flemming said those who report violators shouldn't fear retaliation or being labeled as a snitch.

"This is not being a snitch. This is being safe, and that is the most important thing," she said.