Field & Test Engineers, Inc, was founded by Robert Douglas, who has held a variety of positions in four state departments of transportation, two private consulting engineering firms, and two accident reconstruction firms before founding Field & Test Engineers, Inc.  He came to California from Arizona. His last position before coming to California was with the Arizona Department of Transportation as their Forensic Engineer, a position that reported to the State Engineer, and was responsible for defending the State in Tort matters, and creating projects, processes, and procedures for reducing and eliminating engineering issues and risks throughout the State. In that position he was liaison to the State Engineer, the Federal Highways Administration, and the Attorney General’s office.  He was responsible for all accident reconstruction for the Arizona Department.  For the last 30 years he has been continually providing Accident Reconstruction, Traffic/Transportation Engineering, and Human Factors Engineering.

When he came to California, he interviewed for and was given, the position of Caltrans District 12 Chief of Project Management and Control.  In that position, he was responsible to the Chief District Engineer and the Chief Deputy District Engineer in the newly formed District 12 in Orange County.  He was responsible for the District’s 10 year, $20 Billion Dollar budget in Transportation Design and Construction. His role with Caltrans included management and control of both roadway and railway engineering projects.  He worked with Caltrans Attorneys in several matters dealing with changes in the use of either work zone or permanent traffic control devices.  He was consulted by Traffic Operations and Traffic Studies Engineers in eliminating safety issues.  He was the Chair of the District Safety Review Committee, a committee made up of the Branch Chief Engineers in Construction, Maintenance, Traffic Operations, & Traffic Studies, who were charged with the responsibility of making a safety review of a project’s Design Plans just prior to being released to the bidding process, and then a final physical review of the project just prior to the project being completed in the construction phase. This included a physical inspection of the construction project prior to the construction project being accepted by the construction engineer as complete.  Mr. Douglas was proposed for membership in the Transportation Research Board’s “Risk Management and Tort Liability Committee” by attorneys in Caltrans Legal office.  He retired from Caltrans in 1994, and was recruited into an Accident Reconstruction firm, Vollmer-Gray Engineering Labs, as their Traffic Engineering Accident Reconstructionist.  And soon after, he founded Field & Test Engineers, Inc.

He was also a member of the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) “Traffic Control Devices Subcommittee” and became a member of TRB’s “Tort Liability and Risk Management Council” upon recommendation from Caltrans Legal.  He helped to edit and compose sections of the “Handbook on Traffic Control Devices,” published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, with the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) participation (FHWA published this publication just prior to the new edition).  He was a member of the “National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices,” the committee that reviews and updates the national standards for traffic control devices in the “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.”  He retired from that Committee in 2012 after 18 years of service.  The “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices,” and the “Handbook on Traffic Control Devices” are the 1st and 2nd most important Traffic Engineering references in the country.

Since his time as the State Forensic Engineer, he has continued to provide Accident Reconstruction, Traffic Engineering, Work Zone Traffic Control, Human Factors (including Perception/Reaction and Conspicuity), Highway/Rail Crossing Engineering, Wet Surface (Vehicle or Pedestrian) analysis, and “Low-Light” and “Darkness” Accident Reconstruction that involves heavy construction equipment, locomotives, rail “cab” cars, tractor-trailers, autos, cycles, and pedestrians.

Today, some of our FTE support staff are almost as experienced, and have become Senior Engineers, Assistant Engineers, Paralegals, and Engineering Technicians. The Curriculum Vitae of Robert Douglas, who is the Senior Managing Engineer in our firm, is available by clicking on the buttons on the “right” and “left” of “Curriculum Vitae” below, that will provide both his “Short,” and a more “In-Depth” Curriculum Vitae.