The Chapel Hill Transit driver fired after his bus fatally struck a pedestrian last month has had 10 traffic accidents since 2001.

In eight of the collisions, James Willie Orr was driving a Chapel Hill Transit bus, according to police records.

Under the town's policy, Orr could have been fired after each of the bus accidents. Town officials would not discuss why he remained on the job, citing personnel privacy rules, and Town Manager Roger Stancil referred questions to public information officer Catherine Lazorko.

"Depending on the preventability and frequency of accidents, an employee may receive discipline for accidents up to and including termination," Lazorko said in an e-mail.

Orr, 65, was fired after the death of Valerie Hughes on Oct. 27.

He also has been charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. A police investigation found Orr's bus struck Hughes while she had a "walk" signal to use the crosswalk at the intersection of Mason Farm Road and South Columbia Street, near UNC Hospitals where Hughes worked.

The bus was traveling about 15 miles per hour as it was making the left turn onto South Columbia Street and into the crosswalk.

October's fatal accident was the third collision this year between a pedestrian and a Chapel Hill Transit bus on the UNC campus.

In May, Lisa Moran, a Scottish exchange student at UNC, was killed when she was hit by a bus at the intersection of Manning Drive and South Columbia Street -- a block from where Hughes died. Moran was not in a crosswalk, and no charges were filed against the bus driver.

And in February, a woman suffered minor injuries after she was struck by a bus at the intersection of Ridge Road and Manning Drive. No charges were filed against the driver.

Chapel Hill Transit has been working since May to improve safety. Programs to "offer additional training to drivers in pedestrian safety strategies" will begin soon, said Lazorko, and a consultant is evaluating the bus system's training and safety procedures.

Orr's eight accidents on the job occurred over eight years.

Last December, he clipped a utility pole on East Franklin Street, damaging the bus's side-view mirror. He was involved in a similar accident in 2001 in which he sideswiped another utility pole on Pittsboro Street.

In 2004, he rear-ended a vehicle that "stopped suddenly for a bicycle" on West Franklin Street, according to a police report.

On two separate occasions in 2002 and 2005, Orr backed into a car causing minor damage.

Chapel Hill Transit's personnel policy states that when a driver has had two "preventable rear-end accidents," the driver may be terminated.

Orr was also involved in two accidents within a three-month period in 2004 and 2005. In both accidents, he was driving in the off-ramp of U.S. 15-501 when the car in front of him stopped to yield to traffic on Raleigh Road and he struck the car.

The personnel policy states that whenever transit drivers have a preventable collision with another fixed object, they "may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including recommendation for immediate termination."

In addition to his eight bus accidents, Orr has had two accidents driving his car, according to police reports.

In July, Orr was driving his private vehicle when he rear-ended a Pittsboro woman at a stoplight on U.S. 15-501.

In 2004, Orr drove his private vehicle into another car because his "attention was diverted from driving due to changing radio channels," police reports state.

And in 2001, Orr's bus collided with a car near University Mall when he failed to yield the right of way as the car stopped to make a turn.

Orr also received a speeding ticket in 2005, according to court records.

News researcher Denise Jones contributed to this story.