Christchurch engineer honoured on world stage

Beca Media Release

29 April 2008

A Christchurch engineer’s expertise has been recognised internationally by an invitation to join a high profile road safety committee of the American-based National Research Council.

Dr Shane Turner, a Transportation Director at Beca’s Christchurch office will serve on the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Safety Data, Analysis and Evaluation which acts as a ‘think-tank’ to the transportation community across the globe.

TRB’s activities annually engage more than 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from both public and private sectors and academia to research and exchange information on transportation systems and making them safer for all users.

Shane says being part of the world scene is a great honour and will enable him to show-case the excellent programmes and strategies that have been successful in reducing the number of fatal crashes in New Zealand (New Zealand has been a lot more successful in this respect than the USA) and to be exposed to the latest road safety programs and research being undertaken internationally.

“Beca is looking to lift its profile as an international company and part of this involves Beca people being more involved in world leading organisations such as TRB.

“It’s important that we develop relationships with centres of excellence in the USA, and across the globe, so we can partner with them for projects and soak up the learning on offer.

“Transportation safety is a very niche area so being involved puts me in touch with a number of other specialists in my area. We learn from each other and try to find and evaluate new ways to make sure vehicles, cycles and pedestrians can co-exist in a safe environment.”

Shane takes up the appointment in April and will serve for a three-year term.

ENDS

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