David Metz
David Metz collapsed whilst sailing on The Island of Mull in May 2026 and sadly did not survive.
Many of us in Scotland first met David in 1992 when he took up the role of Chief Scientist at DfT where he was sometimes looking for independent minds to support his ideas from outside the London bubble. At the time I was transport research co-ordinator at the Scottish Office, and was immediately struck by his incisive direct questions. They cut through the blur of received wisdom on topics ranging from transport and economic development to concrete testing.
With the focus in 1992 on actioning the Rio Earth Summit Agenda 21 his willingness to start more human and community centric transport research programmes like accessibility planning ultimately led to the knowledge base that informed the shift away from demand led transport planning to accessibility led transport policy. Back then demand management was being discussed in vague terms but David was far more practical than that seeking to research how the “limits to travel” – as he later called one of his books – could be socially and economically beneficial.
The last time I spoke to David face to face was almost exactly 33 years later at a lovely afternoon I spent with him last year in the coffee bar at the Institution of Civil Engineers reflecting on why some attitudes were so hard to shift within the transport sector. When he wrote about something we discussed at that meeting I sent him a favourable comment and he replied “Thanks for your encouragement, a rare response to my articles. I’m using substack to ‘fish’ for interest in my ideas, but not catching much. I fear that transport planners, economists and policy advisers are rather conformist, reluctant to think outside the box, which is where I locate myself.”
David’s writings are in daily use on many desks – and never in a box! He will be sadly missed.
Reflections by Derek Halden STSG Secretary