According to police records, in 2001 Chapel Hill Transit driver James Willie Orr clipped a utility pole with the bus he was driving, and in another incident that year failed to yield the right of way and collided with a car.

In 2002 he backed his bus into a car.

In 2004 he rear-ended one car that had stopped suddenly for a bicycle and rear-ended another one that had stopped to yield to traffic on Raleigh Road.

In 2005 he again hit a vehicle that was yielding to traffic on Raleigh Road, and again backed into another car. Last December he clipped another utility pole.

In addition to those on-the-job accidents, Orr ran his own car into another vehicle in 2004, got a speeding ticket in 2005 and last July rear-ended a car that was stopped for a stoplight.

See a pattern here?

But despite a total of 10 traffic accidents in the last eight years -- eight of them while driving Chapel Hill Transit buses -- Orr stayed behind the wheel.

Last month, the bus he was driving struck and killed Valerie Hughes, a UNC Hospitals employee, as she was crossing the intersection of Mason Farm Road and South Columbia Street. According to police, she was crossing in the crosswalk and with the "Walk" signal when Orr's bus turned the corner and hit her.

He was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. Chapel Transit fired him.

The fatal accident came six months after another Chapel Hill Transit bus struck and killed a pedestrian. Lisa Moran, a Scottish exchange student, was hit just a block from where Hughes was struck. Moran was not in a crosswalk, and no charges were filed in that incident.

Last February a woman suffered minor injuries when a Chapel Hill Transit bus hit her. No charges were filed in that instance either.

According to the town, drivers may receive discipline up to and including termination, "depending on the preventability and frequency of accidents."

Town officials say they can't speak publicly about Orr's performance and why he stayed on the job. Because of personnel privacy rules, they can't address his situation specifically; they can speak only in generalities.

So from where we sit, we'll say this: In general, a driver who has had 10 accidents in eight years probably shouldn't be driving buses.

And, in general, a transit organization that has had three of its buses strike pedestrians -- two of them fatally -- in one year should be taking a very hard look at its training and discipline policies.