Rob Morgan
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Rob Morgan
Road Safety Engineer & Traffic Engineer
Author
Photographer
Based in Melbourne, Australia
Learn more on
Road Safety
Engineering
NOTE:
from 1st July 2026 Rob has ceased paid employment, except to finalise projects for existing clients
Need to get in touch? Click here or use the 'Contact me' button at the top right of this page
- or in the drop down menu (top left) on your mobile phone screen
Need to get in touch? Click here or use the 'Contact me' button at the top right of this page
- or in the drop down menu (top left) on your mobile phone screen
Big Publishing News
Practical advice, based on decades of experience about how to design and manage roads for greater safety:
a major new handbook with contributions by international and Australian authors (including Rob Morgan) is now out
Out now! (October 2026)
This unique handbook, with worldwide application, contains over 800 pages of practical advice by 35 authors and co-authors on how to incorporate human factors knowledge and experience into the design and management of roads to reduce road trauma, make roads easier to negotiate and help road users make fewer mistakes.
It includes more than 50 case studies, examples and practical exercises, as well as 300 photos and diagrams, plus countless evidence-based references.
See the Contents list at Routledge.com
Here are just a few of the internationally recognised authors:
Ray Brindle, Claes Tingvall, Paul Salmon, Michael A. Regan, Ann Williamson, John Gaffney, Jan Theeuwes, Rod Troutbeck, Alson Smiley, Rune Elvik, Christina Rudin-Brown, Bhagwant Persaud, John L. Campbell, Donald L. Fisher and many more.
Here are a few example pages (page illustrations copyright Taylor & Francis)
Chapter on human error and its design implications
One of 12 colour pages: Colour blindness considerations
From the Traffic Control Devices chapter
Road users' design needs: Motorcyclists
One of 50 practical examples: The see-through effect
Comprehensive outlines of guidelines and standards
NEWS 2:
Rob Morgan awarded the
Institute of Transportation Engineers
(Australia and New Zealand Section)
Contribution to the Transport Profession Award 2024
The award recognises Rob's sustained contributions in the areas of traffic engineering and road safety engineering in his career spanning over 50 years.
Rob receives his award from Daniel Przychodzki, Director of the ITE's Global District
at the ITE-ANZ Breakfact Meeting in Melbourne on 25th March 2025
The ITE's Contribution to the Transport Profession Award is presented to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the development of the transport / traffic engineering profession over a sustained period.
NEWS 3:
Rob Morgan receives award
for his 40 year contribution
on the committee responsible for
Australia's MUTCD:
The Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices
In May 2024 Rob received a Meritorious Achievement Award from Standards Australia for his work on the national committee responsible for Australia's national Traffic Signs and Line Marking Standards,
AS 1742, AS 1743 and AS 1744.
Rob has been an active member of Standards Australia's MS12 committee since October 1984. Some of his major contributions include developing and updating the symbol-based parking signs standard (originally in mid-late 1980s, then updates in 1999 & 2016, & the current revision), street name signing, and leading the major revision of the direction sign standard (published in 2019).
Rob receives his award from Tracey Gramlick, Chair of the Board of Directors
and Karen Riley-Takos, Chief Operating Officer of Standards Australia,
Sydney, 24th May 2024
RECENT PAPERS
by Rob Morgan
A Body of Knowledge for Road Safety Engineers
Get your free pdf copy of this paper HERE
Paper presented at the 2024 ACRS Road Safety Conference, Hobart, 1-3 Sept. (Session 17)
What body of knowledge should practicing road safety engineers have? Rob Morgan proposes a four step process that recognises increasing levels of expertise.
The Lost Art of
Crash Investigation
Get your free pdf copy of this paper HERE
Paper presented at the 2024 ACRS Road Safety Conference, Hobart, 1-3 Sept. (Session 23)
The Safe System says that road safety should be 'proactive'. This is leading to practitioners not undertaking crash investigations. A case study shows the problems when this occurs.
Identifying
Crash Causes
- a Lost Imperative
Get your free pdf copy of this paper HERE
This is the full story behind paper no. 2 (above). Rejected for publication in the Journal of Road Safety - apparently because it had nothing new or worthwhile to say (or was it because it is at odds with the Safe System focus of solving problems by slowing everyone down?), this paper is now published on ResearchGate. How does a crash investigation, as part of a multi-million dollar publicly-funded 'research' study conduct a site inspection, yet fail to identify the likely crash causes - and as a result a costly but ineffective 'solution' was implemented? Enjoy finding out.
NEWS 4:
NEWS 4:
West Gate Tunnel Project (Melbourne, Australia)
West Gate Tunnel Project (Melbourne, Australia)
A Human Factors-Based Assessment of
its Direction Signs
by Rob Morgan, May 2026
For a copy of Rob's assessment report and the response from the
Victorian government's major projects organisation, go to Free Downloads
For a copy of Rob's assessment report and the response from the
Victorian government's major projects organisation, go to Free Downloads
NEWS 5: 25 year later, history repeats
In July 1999, Rob Morgan was reported in The Age newspaper expressing concern that an imminent freeway-to-freeway connection
(with the new Bolte Bridge freeway connecting onto the existing West Gate Freeway in Melbourne)
had been cheaply designed would result in “severe congestion and a very high accident rate”.
This was dismissed by the then Minister for Roads and Ports, who said “We saw that there was going to be an issue and we fixed it.”
History tells us otherwise. By 2005 VicRoads tried to fix it for $3.285 million (that’s what the sign said).
That didn’t work and a completely new bridge and ramp had to be built, as originally predicted.
Unfortunately that design had its own problems and a third attempt was made in 2017.
In all, hundreds of millions of dollars was spent fixing up a shoddy design for a new toll road.
NEWS 5: 25 year later, history repeats
In July 1999, Rob Morgan was reported in The Age newspaper expressing concern that an imminent freeway-to-freeway connection
(with the new Bolte Bridge freeway connecting onto the existing West Gate Freeway in Melbourne)
had been cheaply designed would result in “severe congestion and a very high accident rate”.
This was dismissed by the then Minister for Roads and Ports, who said “We saw that there was going to be an issue and we fixed it.”
History tells us otherwise. By 2005 VicRoads tried to fix it for $3.285 million (that’s what the sign said).
That didn’t work and a completely new bridge and ramp had to be built, as originally predicted.
Unfortunately that design had its own problems and a third attempt was made in 2017.
In all, hundreds of millions of dollars was spent fixing up a shoddy design for a new toll road.
Rob Morgan has been predicting since 2022 that similar problems will happen with
North East Link in Bulleen (a Melbourne suburb),
once this major tunnelled tollway opens.
Go to the North East Link page for more details
Rob Morgan has been predicting since 2022 that similar problems will happen with
North East Link in Bulleen (a Melbourne suburb),
once this major tunnelled tollway opens.
Go to the North East Link page for more details
Life got too much and you need a laugh? See the lighter side of traffic engineering in 'The Buick Stops Here !'
'Model Citizens' by Rob Morgan. 'Street Photography' Image of the Year 2021 in the annual Ivanhoe Photographic Society competitions
Rob Morgan is an accredited Senior Road Safety Auditor and one of Australia's most experienced traffic engineers and road safety engineers. He has been working continuously in the fields of traffic engineering, road safety engineering and transport planning since 1973.
Rob's experience includes consulting, local government (nine years with City of St Kilda in Melbourne through the 1980s) and working with Milton Keynes New Town Development Corporation in the U.K. for 3 years in the late 1970s.
Since January 1993, Rob has operated his own one-man consultancy, based in Melbourne. These days he is more involved with the road safety side of engineering.
He is the principal author of a number of national and state standards and guidelines and is invited to present at training workshops across Australia.
Click here for more details
Rob Morgan is based in Melbourne, Australia. He has had a camera since his primary school days and has been keen on photography for most of his life. It is only since around 2004 that Rob has taken his photography to the next level, going digital, joining a camera club to compete and learn, and learning from others through workshops. In 2008 he entered prints in his first national photographic competition - the Ballarat National Photographic Exhibition - and had seven images accepted. He has since won Gold Medals in international competitions.
By 2009 he conducted his first solo exhibition ‘First Light’ in Daylesford, as part of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. Rob's photographic interests centre around landscapes and travel, but he ventures into other areas like urban form and creative photography. He combines his keen interest in travel with his interest in photography. Rob is an Associate member of both the Royal Photographic Society and the Australian Photographic Society. Click here for Rob's Gallery of images
You can also download a free copy of a conference paper on this topic > >
> > just click the green box above !
Here are a few of my images. Click here or on 'Gallery' at the top of the page to see more. All images on this website are © copyright Robert Morgan
Jungle Light, Bali, Indonesia
Dawn at the Wanaka Tree, South Island of New Zealand
Hiroshima Okonomiyaki
A villager smoking, Bagan, Myanmar
Hamnøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway in Winter
Tongariki Moonrise, Easter Island
The summit of Mt Kilimanjaro at dawn
Thirty-six VWs of Mt Fuji (a traffic engineer's homage to Hakusai's 'Great Wave')
All images on this website are © copyright Robert Morgan Click here to go to Gallery
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