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The reason why traffic lights around the world are designed this way is more interesting than you think

2016-07-01 , 4:57 pm

Last Updated on 2016-07-04 , 11:13 am

Installed at every street, usually from a pole, all with three colours is the traffic light. Though all (or at least, most) follow the guidelines of the lights during driving, riding or walking, we often passed by without much thought and consideration afterwards. Have you ever thought of how it all began?

It started out with traffic police
Travelling back in time, in the late 1700s in London, there were no traffic lights to guide vehicles on the road. Even dating back to the times in Rome where Julius Caesar was alive, the roads of Rome was busy, messy and disorganized. Chariots were said to be so bad the government had to make certain areas off limits to vehicles.

Later on, when the world was slightly more developed, London started directing policemen to be stationed at specific areas to direct traffic.

The first traffic light had arms
The very first controlled traffic lights that were not human was established in 1868 in London. Though it was an improved device considering the technology back in the days, it still require manual labour operated by policemen. The device had two lights at that time – red and green. Red was designed to command drivers to ‘Stop’ and green meant ‘Caution'(which also meant ‘Go’ in modern times).

The signal stands at 22 feet high and had arms where if the police officer were to signal ‘Stop’, the arm would extend horizontally and when signaling ‘Caution’, the arm would lower to a 45 degree angle, telling drivers to proceed with caution.

Can you imagine how tough the job would be? The traffic light was crowned with a gas light as well and unfortunately, exploded after a month of usage and injured the police officer on duty. Ouch.

More development on the 2-coloured traffic light
Over the next 2 decades of the 20th century, other countries took notice of the idea and created versions of their own, including Ohio which had ‘Stop’ and ‘Go’ signs with white words and green backgrounds installed on red and green lenses that were light up by kerosene lamps.

The world’s first 3-coloured traffic light
Founded by William Potts, in Detroit, he created a 3rd light we all know as amber in modern times. As the traffic lights were still operated manually by police officers at that time, he was concerned that the police officers would not be able to change their lights all at the same time, which may lead to an unsightly collision. He also installed a timer together with the light to help coordinate all traffic lights in the city.

It was a successful idea and Crouse Hinds, a company in Houston was said to be the first company to place timers in all of their traffic lights. It saved cities all around plenty of money and manual labour including New York that had 6,000 officers replaced with new positions and a total of $12,500,000.

Colours of the light
So why the colours red, green and amber? Around the world, red is said to be universally classified as danger, ‘bad’ or caution. Hence, it is designed to give a sense of warning, signalling for you to stop. Green, on the other hand, gives off a sense of nature, harmony and freshness. It has been said that it is often used with correspondence to safety as well. Therefore, a signal for you to go, run like the wind (but don’t speed).

Amber or yellow is chosen to be part of the traffic light gang due to the fact that it is actually the easiest colour to see. According to wired.com, physics have shown that it’s the first colour that human eyes can detect. To see bright colours, more light is reflected hence, when you see amber/yellow, your eyes would become more stimulated (or tone-down excited), therefore preparing you to either stop or go.

Controlled by computers
The next time you stop at a red light, don’t go all mad and impatient because you have to wait. Don’t worry, because the traffic light knows that you’re there! After much developments and installations, control of traffic lights were soon given to computers for control. A pressure plate is installed at intersections so that whenever a vehicle stops at a plate, the computer would know that a vehicle has stopped at the red light.

So there you go, a brief lesson on traffic lights. You wouldn’t see traffic signals in the same light anymore, would you?

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

The reason why traffic lights around the world are designed this way is more interesting than you think

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