Frank Blackmore, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetFrank Blackmore
British engineer
Date of Birth: 16-Feb-1916
Date of Death: 05-Jun-2008
Profession: engineer
Nationality: United Kingdom
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius 
About Frank Blackmore
- Frank Blackmore OBE DFC (16 February 1916 – 5 June 2008) was a British airman and traffic engineer.
- He led the development of the offside priority rule at roundabouts – which overcame capacity and safety issues at such installations, greatly increasing their usefulness and popularity around the world – and subsequently also invented the mini roundabout.
- Blackmore was born in 1916 at Fort National, Algeria, where his father worked as a missionary.
- Along with his sisters Lorna and Violette and brother William, 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 II when he joined the Royal Air Force.
- He was awarded the Air Force 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 (TRL).
- During his time with the TRL he came up with several ideas to improve the flow of traffic at junctions: in particular, the offside-priority rule at roundabouts, and the mini-roundabout, which was officially adopted in 1975.
- Blackmore was honoured with 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 5 June 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.
Read more at Wikipedia