Rob Morgan
Rob Morgan
Road Safety Engineer & Traffic Engineer
Photographer
Same guy !
Based in Melbourne, Australia
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NEWS:
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 2:
Book Review
Read Rob Morgan's review of the book
"Killed by a Traffic Engineer"
- a book by Professor Wes Marshall of the University of Colorado Denver
Read Rob Morgan's review of the book
"Killed by a Traffic Engineer"
- a book by Professor Wes Marshall of the University of Colorado Denver
- published by Island Press, Washington
"Professor Marshall has put together a case for
US traffic and road design professionals to lift their game.
However ‘Killed by a Traffic Engineer’ appears to be written for a different audience.
There is enough detail to convince others, like urban planners, of traffic engineers’ failings
but little constructive advice to help traffic engineers and road designers mend their wicked ways.
The risk is that this book will simply be divisive."
US traffic and road design professionals to lift their game.
However ‘Killed by a Traffic Engineer’ appears to be written for a different audience.
There is enough detail to convince others, like urban planners, of traffic engineers’ failings
but little constructive advice to help traffic engineers and road designers mend their wicked ways.
The risk is that this book will simply be divisive."
NEWS 3: 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.
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
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