Frank Blackmore

Who was Frank Blackmore?

Frank Blackmore OBE DFC was a British 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 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.