Traffic Signals....they are over 135 years old!!!
The first traffic lights were installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, by the railway engineer J.P. Knight on 10 December 1868. They resembled railway signals of the time, with semaphore arms and red and green gas lamps for night use. The gas lantern was turned with a lever at its base so that the appropriate light faced traffic. Unfortunately, it exploded on 2 January 1869, injuring the policeman who was operating it.The modern electric traffic light is an American invention. As early as 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah, policeman Lester Wire set up the first red-green electric traffic lights. On 5 August 1914, the American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system on the corner of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. Based on the design of James Hoge, it had two colors, red and green, and a buzzer to provide a warning for color changes. The first four-way, three-color traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit in 1920.
So, there’s so much to these three colors that bring in some discipline on the road!
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