Honorary Members

George retired after 27 years as City of Columbus, Ohio Traffic Engineer followed by serving as Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation until his first retirement. He spent an additional 16 years in consulting until his second retirement. The year 2021 is George’s 42nd year on the NCUTCD Signals Technical Committee (STC). He served as Vice Chair for Programs (including Chairman of the Edit Committee) of the NCUTCD from 1998 to 2002 and Chair of Signals 1992-1998.

George’s favorite part of being on the NCUTCD is the ability to spend a day discussing, and sometimes disagreeing, with my fellow Signals members (even being on the losing side of a vote or two) on issues, then going for a drink and dinner with them. The discussions have always been issue oriented and never got personal. Much has changed over the years as technology advances have forced us to keep the MUTCD relevant to the technology. Many of his closest friends are or have been members of the NC. Since his second “retirement”, George was an Adjunct Instructor for Northwestern University teaching their Traffic Engineering Short Courses and is now the CEO for his son’s start up cyber security business. George and his wife love to travel and have found that they also enjoy cruises, having taken 16 since 2001.

“We pretty much do whatever else we want to,” George says.

After serving in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, Bob earned his CE degree. During his career, Bob worked for a county, contractor, and then started working for associations. Bob was the Chief Engineer with the Calcium Chloride Institute, then a Division Engineer with ARBA (later ARTBA). In 1980, he became the Executive Director of ATSSA. After retiring from ATSSA in 1998, Bob became the NCUTCD Executive Secretary and served in that capacity until 2020.

Although his long professional career has been fantastic, Bob says that the most outstanding part of his life has been my family. Bob and his wife Donna have been married for 63 years in early 2021 and have been blessed with five children, 15 grandchildren and soon to be nine great grandchildren. Counting spouses, there are now 42
members of their family, all of whom get along very well and love each other.

“What more could you ask of this life?” Bob asks.

Ken Kobetsky started work at the Iowa Department of Transportation, followed by the City of Des Moines, Iowa. Then after graduate school, Ken went to work for the West Virginia Department of Transportation. He retired after 29 years and went to work for AASHTO. After spending 16 additional years working for AASHTO, Ken once again retired.

Ken attended his first National Joint Committee (NCUTCD predecessor) meeting in 1968 and has continued to attend all the NC meetings ever since. Ken served in various leadership positions including Treasurer, Signals chair, Research chair, and as the second NCUTCD chair where he served for 14 years.

Even though he has been retired for over 10 years, Ken continues to stay involved with updating the MUTCD. He has also been involved with the Transportation Research Board and has attended every annual meeting since 1965. Ken chaired the TRB Traffic Control Devices Committee and has always promoted the need for research statements that end up getting funding and were used to update the MUTCD. He continues to attend the TRB Annual Meetings and work with many of the technical committees and still remain active.

Ken’s and his wife of 62 years, Karen, have done a lot of traveling over the years and have visited 49 of the 50 states in the past 50 years.

Scott Wainwright started his career with five years at Connecticut DOT, followed by 27 years with Montgomery County (MD) DOT, where he rose to the position of Chief of the Division of Traffic and Parking Services.  In 2001 he retired and began a second career as a member of FHWA’s MUTCD Team, where he was responsible for Parts 3 and 4 of the MUTCD as well as coordinating the rulemakings for the 2003 and 2009 editions of the MUTCD.  Scott retired again in 2012 and formed his one-person firm, Wainwright Traffic Consulting Services, where he continues to work part-time as a subcontractor to FHWA to assist on MUTCD issues, especially rulemaking.

Scott joined the NCUTCD as a member of the Signals Technical Committee at the June 1983 meeting and has not missed attending a single NCUTCD meeting since then.  He served as Chair of the Signals Technical Committee, Vice Chair of the Edit Committee, NCUTCD Treasurer, and 26 years as a Member or Associate Member of the ITE Delegation.  Scott continues as an active member of the Signals Technical Committee, Edit Committee, NCUTCD Liaison to the Canadian MUTCD Committee, and several joint task forces.

Scott has also been active in ITE as an elected President of the Washington DC Section and the Mid-Colonial District and was elected to a 3-year term on the ITE International Board of Direction (1998-2001).  He has prepared and presented a variety of informational and training webinars for ITE on topics such as the MUTCD and traffic signals.

Scott and his wife Elaine have been married since 1970, living in the northern Virginia suburbs outside of Washington DC.  Their son, daughter, spouses, and grandchildren all live close by so they see them frequently.  Scott and Elaine are inveterate travelers who have visited almost all the states, all 10 Canadian provinces, and a large number of international destinations, taking lots of TCD photos along the way.

Tom Hicks was the first state traffic engineer for Oklahoma DOT. He attended his first NJC meeting in 1962. Tom was the director of the Maryland State Highway Administration Office of Traffic and Safety from 1969 to 2012. He was the recipient of national recognition awards from three separate NCUTCD sponsoring organizations: 1990 National Safety Award from ATSSA, 1999 Theodore M. Matson Memorial Award from ITE, and 2007 John Landen Memorial Award from ARTBA. Tom as chair of C&M (TTC predecessor) 1976-1990 and Vice Chair – Programs for NCUTCD from 2002-2012.

Tom believed that, “Understanding human factors is our greatest need.”

Tom passed away January 30, 2023.

Bruce retired as the State Traffic Engineer for Maine DOT in 2013, having been in that position for 20 years. He had 43 years of service with Maine DOT, all in Traffic Engineering. Bruce became a member of the National Committee in 1994. He chaired RWSTC from 2003-2013. One of Bruce’s fondest memories of working on the MUTCD was when the major change to create “Standard, Guidance, Option and Support” was implemented. Chairman Gene Hawkins, who was secretary for RW at that time, and Bruce worked until 3:00 am on the changes to the sign sections. Bruce says, “It was a rewarding experience!”

Since retiring, Bruce and his wife Ann have enjoyed trips to the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, Yosemite, as well as Spain and Italy. Bruce says, “May the 2021 MUTCD be quickly published. It is a huge step in the right direction for all practitioners!”

Dave Kuemmel served 40 years on the NCUTCD and its predecessor NAC. All of those years were spent on the Signals Technical Committee. Dave chaired Signals as it made the transition away from FHWA. He chaired APWA’s delegation and later served as Vice Chair – Programs and Edit Committee chair.

Dave was part of a small group of people who first proposed changing “Shall, Should & May” to the current “Standards, Guidance & Option.” He was often referred to as heading up the “Weasel Word Police.”

Dave served 35 years in the City of Milwaukee, rising to chief Traffic Control Engineer and later Commissioner of Public Works. After retiring, he joined the faculty at Marquette University, teaching and doing research for 15 years before retiring again.

Dave is most proud of chairing the Pedestrian Task Force of the STC as they invited groups working to help the blind to provide input to develop recommendations for Accessible Pedestrian Signals in the MUTCD. Dave says his fondest memories are of the friendships developed within Signals and the socializing done after meetings that often lasted well past the normal dinner hour.

John Logan was a Road and Traffic Engineer for King County, Washington for 30 years. He rose to the level of Director of Traffic Engineering for the County. After retiring in 1992, he opened his own consulting business as an expert witness, instructor and engineering consultant.

John served as the NCUTCD Treasurer 1998–2014.

John passed away September 6, 2014.

Dick Luettich started out in the early 1950s working part time in the City Engineers Office in Champaign, IL, when he was president of an ITE student chapter. At that time, Dick attended his first National Joint Committee for Traffic Control Devices (NJC, NCUTCD predecessor) meeting. In the mid-1950s, he started working for the Maine Highway Department (later Maine DOT) as Assistant Traffic Engineer. Dick worked up to Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Chief Engineer and retired as the Acting Commissioner in 1980.

In 1980, Dick was privileged and honored to be elected as Chair of the newly organized NCUTCD. He served in that position for ten years, then served as Chair of the Signs until 2002 when he was selected as an Honorary Member.

In retirement, Dick worked for a consulting firm and then started his own consulting firm in 1988, providing a variety of consulting and expert witness
services.

Dick had two thoughts for our members. First, he emphasized that every effort should be made to hold at least one annual face-to-face meeting. There is no substitute for sitting down
over dinner or drinks and discussing situations in the “real world.” Second, he wanted all to remember that the MUTCD was developed to assure that the use and application of traffic control devices was uniform throughout the country.

Dick passed away November 15, 2023 at the age of 93.

Jim spent 35 years with the Idaho Transportation Department and then 25 years as a consultant for Pline Engineering, Inc. He retired after active practice at age 85.

After retiring, Jim has worked on ITE and NCUTCD activities. He had said he will probably totally retire after the 2021 Edition. The 11th Edition Manual was the 7th Edition he had participated in during more than 100 meetings.

Jim wanted new members to keep a practical sense and not to overlook the many miles of roadway that are maintained by the local jurisdictions. Jim said, “There is responsibility on the road user to use the facilities responsibly and we can’t provide a traffic control device for everyone or someone’s wish.”

Jim passed away April 29, 2023 at the age of 91.

Ray Pusey worked for the Delaware Department of Transportation for 40 years. He served as the chief traffic engineer for the state and retired as a director. Ray was also a commissioner at large for the Kent County Regional Planning Commission.

Ray represented the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances until 2009 on the NCUTCD Council and was also Vice Chair of the Signals Technical Committee.

Ray Pusey passed away January 24, 2018 at the age of 82.

Robbie Robertson served as the Director of Program Planning for the Highway Users Federation for Safety and Mobility (HUFSAM) and represented HUFSAM on the NCUTCD Council. HUFSAM was one of the founding sponsoring organizations of the
NCUTCD from 1979 to 1996.

He was the First NCUTCD HonoraryMember.

Robbie Robertson passed away August 2017.