Forrest M. Council, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Forrest M. Council is a Senior Research Scientist at both the UNC Highway Safety Research Center and at BMISG, a transportation engineering firm in Vienna , Virginia . He served as Director of the Center from 1993 until his retirement in 1999. Prior to that time, he had served as HSRC's Deputy Director for 10 years and Interim Director for two years. In his past administrative positions, his efforts involved project oversight for 25-40 projects each year run by other staff, personnel management for a staff of between 30 and 50 employees, budgetary oversight and short and long-term planning activities, and funding acquisition through proposal preparation and oversight. In his current position, his time is solely dedicated to research. Dr. Council's degrees are in Civil (Transportation) Engineering and his training is in accident research methodologies. He received an M.S. degree and a PhD from N.C. State University in Civil Engineering, with a traffic engineering specialty and a statistical minor.
Dr. Council has worked for 35 years at the Highway Safety Research Center where he has served as a project director for over 20 projects and has authored more than 80 articles and reports. His project experience ranges from studies of motor vehicle injury for specific subpopulations (children, beginning drivers, seat belted occupants) to projects aimed at identifying, and strengthening research methodologies in the roadway safety field (including the development of FHWA’s Accident Research Manual). A significant component of his work over the past fifteen years has involved directing the planning, development and implementation of U. S. Federal Highway Administration's Highway Safety Information System – a nine-state data base which captures accident, traffic, and roadway inventory variables for use in FHWA internal and contract research activities. He was a co-recipient of both the 1994 and 1995 D. Grant Mickle Awards for Best Paper in the area of operation, safety and maintenance presented by the Transportation Research Board.
Dr. Council’s research activities have been recognized on a national level by appointments as chairman and/or member of several committees and boards. These include the Chairmanship of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Methodology for Evaluating Highway Improvements, membership on the Board of Directors and Editorial Board and Chairmanship of the Scientific Program Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine; Chairman of the Federal Highway Administration (US DOT) Review Panel on Future Safety Research Needs; and member of TRB, NCHRP and DOT advisory panels related to enforcement training for occupant research activities, the study of large truck safety data needs, highway related countermeasure analysis, occupant restraint research needs, the safety relationship between vehicle configuration and highway design, guidance on setting and enforcing speed limits, and safe and cost-effective roadside slope design. He currently serves as Chairman of the TRB Committee for “ Review of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) Large Truck Crash Causation Study.” As a result of his career research efforts in safety research, he was appointed to membership on the Research and Technology Coordinating Committee (RTCC) by the Transportation Research Board in 1996. He continued to serve on this committee which provides guidance to FHWA on its overall highway research program until 2002.
