Keith Midson FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER was announced as the Professional Engineer of the Year at the recent Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (AEEA) Tasmania 2016.
Mr Midson has dedicated his 20-year professional career working in the specialist areas of traffic, transport planning, and road safety engineering. He has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Tasmania, and a Masters of Traffic and Master of Transport Engineering from Monash University.
What is your current role?
I am a Director of Midson Traffic as well as an Honorary Research Associate with the University of Tasmania (UTas) and a Teaching Fellow with Monash University.
In my role at Midson Traffic I manage our traffic and transport engineering projects in Tasmania and Victoria.
In my university roles, I lecture the final year undergraduate engineering subject ‘Transportation Engineering’ at UTas, and I teach ‘Road Safety Engineering’ to postgraduates at Monash University. I also provide guest lectures to the civil engineering undergraduate students at Monash University.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
I vividly recall seeing a road safety display at a shopping centre when I was a teenager. It showed a series of fairly graphic crash photos (no injured people, just smashed up cars!). I think it was the first time I realised how dangerous our roads could be. I remember thinking that I wish there was something I could do stop those crashes from happening. It sowed a seed.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
I like to think that I make a positive difference to society through making our roads safer and making traffic flow as efficiently as possible.
What has been a career highlight to date?
Earlier this year I was appointed to head up a traffic congestion task force by the Minister for Transport. At the time, Hobart was experiencing unprecedented traffic congestion. The project was particularly challenging, with very large expectations from the public and all levels of government.
The work is ongoing and moving into longer term investigations to shape the future of Hobart’s transport network.
What opportunities are there for engineering in Tasmania?
Tasmania’s economy is quite strong at the moment.
With the relatively large amount of investment occurring in the private and public sectors, there is a significant opportunity for the engineering profession in the design and delivery of these projects.
In the longer term, Tasmania’s growing population and thriving tourism industry will provide the profession with a number of opportunities (and challenges) to provide the infrastructure required to support them.
What are the engineering challenges in Tasmania?
As a traffic engineer, I think Tasmania’s transport system will need a serious overhaul as our larger cities will need to cope with greater levels of traffic congestion whilst reducing crash rates. We need to look to new technologies and carefully balance the mix of transport modes available.
Who is your engineering hero?
William Calder is a key engineering hero that comes to mind.
He was an early pioneer of the modern Australian road network, helping transform it from traditional horse and carts to motor vehicles in Victoria from 1913.
His challenges included redesigning the network to accommodate wider curves for faster moving vehicles and designing a road surface that would not create large dust storms from cars.
Do you have any advice for young engineers just starting their career?
Never stop learning. Always listen to experienced engineers, technologists and other professionals.
Image: Keith Midson accepting the 2016 Tasmanian Professional Engineer of the Year award at the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (AEEA) Tasmania, 8 September 2016.