John Joseph Leeming, (1899 – 1981),

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

, ACGI, FICE, MI Struct E, MI Mun E, F Inst HE, was a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and traffic engineer. He forwarded controversial ideas for the causes of, and remedies for, road traffic accidents (RTAs), including the notion that drivers should not always be assumed to be at fault.

Biography

Leeming was born in 1899 and served in the First World War. From 1924 he worked in various road engineering capacities for

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...

, latterly as deputy county surveyor until he left for

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

in 1946. Leeming supervised the rebuilding of some historic bridges in Oxfordshire and what was then

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, including

Abingdon Bridge Abingdon Bridge crosses the River Thames at the town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. It carries the A415 road from Abingdon to Dorchester, Oxfordshire, over the reach of the Thames between Culham Lock and Abingdon Lock. The bridge is ac ...

in 1927,

Cropredy Bridge Cropredy Bridge is a bridge in north Oxfordshire, England, that carries the minor road between Cropredy and the hamlet of Williamscot. It spans the River Cherwell, which is also the boundary between the Civil parishes in England, civil parishes ...

in 1937 and Shilton Bridge in 1938. He wrote or co-wrote articles about these bridges that were published in the

Oxford Architectural and Historical Society The Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society (OAHS) has existed in one form or another since at least 1839, although with its current name only since 1972.

's journal ''Oxoniensia''. In 1946 Leeming moved to work for Dorset County Council as

county surveyor A county surveyor is a public official in the United Kingdom and the United States. United Kingdom Webb & Webb describe the increasing chaos that began to prevail within this same period in field of county surveying in England and Wales, with c ...

, where he stayed until his retirement in 1964. In this period he pioneered road

accident investigation Accident analysis is carried out in order to determine the cause or causes of an accident (that can result in single or multiple outcomes) so as to prevent further accidents of a similar kind. It is part of ''accident investigation or incident inv ...

. In 1969 his book ''Road Accidents: prevent or punish?'' was published. A 2007 review of a reprint of the book described it as controversial, and as being written by an "enlightened highways expert". The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire holds an archive of Leeming's papers covering the period 1959–72.

Road traffic accident causes

In ''Road Accidents: prevent or punish?'' Leeming set out his ideas and views of the causes of road traffic casualties (RTCs), and of how best they can be tackled. The book is described as attacking the beginnings of the blame culture, with Leeming convinced that RTCs could be reduced by using

road engineering A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

methods based on evidence derived from the scientific analysis of the causes of RTAs, and that drivers were not the main cause of many road safety problems.

Other observations

Induced demand

Leeming described the phenomenon of induced demand, with respect to road traffic volumes:

Risk compensation

The risk compensation principle, upon which

Hans Monderman Hans Monderman (19 November 1945 – 7 January 2008) was a Dutch road traffic engineer and innovator. He was recognised for radically challenging the criteria used to evaluate engineering solutions for street design. His work compelled tra ...

's counter-intuitive

shared space Shared space is an urban design approach that minimises the segregation between modes of road user. This is done by removing features such as kerbs, road surface markings, traffic signs, and traffic lights. Hans Monderman and others have sugg ...

concept is founded, was described by Leeming:

References

Works

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