Driver in fatal accident had 10 prior incidents

The Chapel Hill Transit driver whose bus fatally struck a pedestrian in October has been involved in 10 other traffic incidents since 2001.

In eight of those collisions James Willie Orr65 was driving a Chapel Hill Transit bus.

In three of the accidents Orr rear-ended another vehicle and three others involved him striking a fixed object.

According to town policy a Chapel Hill Transit employee can be fired because of a preventable accident with a fixed object or two preventable rear-ends accidents within the period of employment.

It is unclear how many of Orr's accidents were preventable meaning the driver failed to do everything possible to avoid the accident.

But Orr was not terminated until after he struck Valerie Hughes on Oct. 28 while she was in the crosswalk of South Columbia Street and Mason Farm Road. Hughes died later from her injuries.

Officials would not discuss Orr's situation because it is a personnel issue but he is currently awaiting trial for a misdemeanor charge of death by motor vehicle in the case.

A certain number of accidents is common for someone who drives a bus for a living.

Chapel Hill Transit has seen a total of 70 accidents — both preventable and non-preventable — so far this year a slight decrease from the 90 in all of 2007 stated Transit Director Steve Spade in an e-mail.

The town employs 109 drivers.

Capital Area Transit which serves the Raleigh area" averages about 0.62 accidents per driver per year.

""We have some drivers that have worked here for 30 years accident free"" stated Scott McClellan, general manager at Capital Area Transit, in an e-mail. Some have gone millions of miles without a preventable accident.""

And the disciplinary methods used by transit systems encourage drivers to keep clean records.

The Durham Area Transit Authority operates on a points-based system. Drivers receive a certain amount of safety points for different types of preventable accidents" said James Tinsley safety manager at Durham Area Transit.

At Capital Area Transit employees can be terminated if they have three preventable accidents within 24 months McClellan said.

Chapel Hill Transit has had 3.32 accidents per 100000 miles for 2008 Spade said. The transit industry standard is 3.1 accidents per 100000 miles.

Transit systems are making efforts to improve safety.

Hughes who police have said was walking in the crosswalk when she was hit was the second to be struck by a Chapel Hill Transit bus.

In May Scottish exchange student Lisa Carolyn Moran died after being hit by a bus on Manning Drive while jogging outside of a crosswalk.

No charges have been brought against the driver of the bus that hit Moran and Orr is expected to appear in court Jan. 12 to face the misdemeanor charge.

Spade said Chapel Hill Transit hopes to learn from these deaths.

Chapel Hill Transit puts all of its new drivers through three weeks of training in which they learn about defensive driving modules. After that drivers continue to attend training once a month to discuss safety topics.

Capital Area Transit does ride along and trail behind checks for its drivers McClellan said.

Durham Area Transit installed cameras in all of its buses after an increase in accidents in 2005" Tinsley said. The cameras monitor drivers' behavior.

""There's a discipline rate that comes with it"" Tinsley said. We have a very strict policy when it comes to accidents — we don't play around with it.

""When little things happen big things can occur later on so we just try to stay on top of it.""



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