Frank Blackmore (traffic engineer)

Frank Blackmore, OBE, DFC (February 16, 1916 - June 5, 2008) was a British traffic engineer. Blackmore was also the inventor of the mini-roundabout.

Born in 1916 at Fort National, Algeria where his father worked as a missionary. He later moved to Lausanne, Switzerland the birth country of his mother. He studied civil engineering until moving to Britain in 1936. He started to work for Colchester borough council until the outbreak of World War Two when he joined the Royal Air Force. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions when he made an emergency landing on the beach at Ardnamurchan Point. He rose to the rank of wing commander and remained with the RAF until 1959.

In 1960 he joined the Transport Research Laboratory, this is where he came up with the idea of the mini-roundabout. During his time with the TRL he came up with several ideas to improve the flow of traffic at junctions. The mini-roundabout was officially adopted in 1975, he was appointed an OBE in 1976. He left the TRL in 1980. After he retired he continued to work as an overseas consultant in Bangkok, Baghdad and California.

Blackmore died on June 5, 2008. He is survived by two daughters and a son. His first wife Ginon Dufour, died of tuberculosis in 1942. His second marriage to Eva Johnson was dissolved in 1969.

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4131930.ece?token=null&offset=0 The Times - Obituary]