December 10 – Anniversary of the First Traffic Lights

nPostednon December 10, 2013

Ofncourse you know that, before there were cars, there were roads. Inmean, the Ancient Romans built plenty of roads even though theyndidn’t have Toyota trucks and school buses and convertible sportsncars!

n
n

nButndid you know that, before there were cars, there were also trafficnlights?

n
n
n

nTodaynis the anniversary of the first traffic lights, which were installednon December 10, 1865, outside the Houses of Parliament in London,nEngland. The lights were meant to control the flow of horses,npedestrians, and horse-drawn buggies. n

n
n

nTheynworked great! Until they exploded, that is!

n
n

Semaphore arms on a
railway signal

nThendesign of the traffic lights was similar to railway signs, with threensemaphore arms to communicate by their angle whether to stop or go.nFor nighttime use, there were red and green gas lanterns. A policemannstood next to the signal and hand-cranked the lanterns so that thenappropriate color faced traffic.

n
n

nUnfortunately,nafter a little more than a month, the gas lantern exploded and eitherninjured or killed the policeman operating it. It was discovered thatnthere was a leak in the gas line. At any rate, the idea of usingntraffic lights was abandoned for decades, until electricity was usednto create better, safer traffic lights in the early 1900s.

n
n

nTypesnof traffic lights and intersections…

n
n

nWithnthe age of the automobile, and therefore much greater speeds on citynand rural roads, more and more inventions and reinventions have beennattempted to make us safer.

nRoundaboutsnare common in some places, such as in England, rather than 4-waynintersections.

n
n

Three-coloredntraffic lights are most common around the world, with yellow lightnwarning that the light will soon turn red. Did you know that railwayn3-colored lights are deliberately in the opposite order, with greennlights on top and red lights on the bottom? They are different sonthat the two lights could not be confused…although I think that, atnnighttime, they still could be!

n
n

Somentraffic lights have countdown timers, often in dial form, to show hownmuch longer the light will stay green or red. n

n
n

nTherenare distinct traffic signals for public transport in some citiesnaround the world. These signals are used in the Netherlands (top row)nand in Belgium, France, and Germany (bottom row). From left to right,nthe signals mean go straight, turn left, turn right, go any directionn(basically a green light), caution (basically a yellow light), stopn(basically a red light).

n
n

nAlsonon this date: