When was the first traffic light installed? Car stories: Traffic light.

In London near the British Parliament. Its inventor, John Peake Knight, was a specialist in railway semaphores. The traffic light was manually controlled and had two semaphore arrows: raised horizontally meant a stop signal, and lowered at an angle of 45° meant moving with caution. In the dark, a rotating gas lamp was used, with the help of which red and green signals were given, respectively. The traffic light was used to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street, and its signals were intended for vehicles - while pedestrians are walking, cars must stop. On January 2, 1869, a gas lamp at a traffic light exploded, injuring the traffic light policeman.

The first automatic traffic light system (capable of changing without direct human intervention) was developed and patented in 1910 by Ernst Sirrin of Chicago. Its traffic lights used unlit Stop and Proceed signs.

Lester Wire from Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) is considered the inventor of the first electric traffic light. In 1912, he developed (but did not patent) a traffic light with two round electric signals (red and green).

In connection with the history of the traffic light, the name of the American inventor Garrett Morgan is often mentioned. Garrett Morgan), who patented a traffic light of an original design in 1922. However, he went down in history for the fact that for the first time in the world, in addition to the technical design, a patent indicated a purpose: “The purpose of the product is to make the order of passage through an intersection independent of the person of the car owner.”

Types of traffic lights

Street and road traffic lights

Car traffic lights

The most common are traffic lights with signals (usually round) of three colors: red, yellow (lit for 0.5-1 seconds) and green. In some countries, including Russia, orange is used instead of yellow. Signals can be positioned either vertically (with the red signal always located on top and the green signal on the bottom) or horizontally (with the red signal always located on the left and the green signal on the right). In the absence of other, special traffic lights, they regulate the movement of all types of vehicles and pedestrians (but at the intersection there may be no traffic lights for the latter). Sometimes traffic light signals are supplemented with a special countdown board, which shows how long the signal will remain on. Most often, a countdown board is made for a green traffic light, but in some cases the board also displays the remaining time of the red light.

Basic traffic light signals are widespread everywhere:

a red traffic light prohibits driving beyond the stop line (if there is no traffic light) or the vehicle in front into the area protected by the traffic light,
yellow allows driving beyond the stop line, but requires a reduction in speed when entering an area protected by a traffic light, being prepared for the traffic light to switch to red,
green - allows movement at a speed not exceeding the maximum level for a given highway.

It is common, but not universal, to use a combination of red and yellow signals to indicate the upcoming turn on of the green signal. Sometimes the green signal comes on immediately after the red signal without an intermediate yellow signal, but not vice versa. Details of the use of signals vary depending on the rules of the road adopted in a particular country.

Some traffic lights have one lunar white or several lunar white lights for a special vehicle lane that allows route traffic of vehicles. The moon-white signal is placed, as a rule, at non-standard intersections, on roads with a second double solid road, or in cases where one lane changes places with another (for example, when a tram line running in the center of a highway moves to the side of the road).

There are traffic lights of two sections - red and green. Such traffic lights are usually installed at points where cars are allowed to pass on an individual basis, for example, at border crossings, when entering or leaving a parking lot, protected area, etc.

Flashing signals may also appear, the meaning of which may vary depending on local regulations. In Russia and many European countries, a flashing green signal means an upcoming switch to yellow. Cars approaching a traffic light with a flashing green signal can take timely braking measures to avoid entering an intersection guarded by the traffic light or crossing into a prohibitory signal. In some provinces of Canada (Atlantic Coast, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta), a flashing green traffic light indicates permission to turn left and go straight (oncoming traffic is stopped by a red light). In British Columbia, a flashing green light at an intersection means that there are no traffic lights on the road being crossed, only stop signs (but the green flashing light is also on for oncoming traffic). A flashing yellow signal requires you to reduce speed to pass through an intersection or pedestrian crossing as unregulated (for example, at night, when regulation is not required due to low traffic volume). Sometimes special traffic lights are used for these purposes, consisting of one flashing or alternately flashing two yellow sections. A flashing red signal may indicate an upcoming switch to green if there is no red + yellow combination at this traffic light.

The cost of one traffic light facility, depending on its technical equipment and the complexity of the road section, ranges from 800 thousand rubles to 2.5 million rubles.

Arrows and arrow sections

Traffic light with side section

“Always burning” green section (Kyiv, 2008)

Traffic lights may have additional sections in the form of arrows or arrow outlines that regulate traffic in one direction or another. The rules (in Ukraine, but not in all countries of the former USSR) are as follows:

In the traffic rules of the Russian Federation in paragraph 6.3, contour arrows and a colored arrow on a black background are equivalent and do not provide an advantage when passing when the red signal is on in the main section.

Most often, the additional section “to the right” either lights up constantly, or lights up a few seconds before the main green signal turns on, or continues to light up for a few seconds after the main green signal turns off.

The extra "left" section in most cases means a dedicated left turn, since this maneuver creates more traffic disruption than a right turn.

In some countries, for example in Ukraine, at traffic lights there are “always on” green sections, made in the form of a sign with a green arrow on a white background. The sign is located at the level of the red signal and points to the right (an arrow to the left is also provided, but can only be installed at an intersection of one-way roads). The green arrow on the sign indicates that a right (left) turn is allowed when the signal in the main section is red. When turning along such an arrow, the driver is obliged to: take the extreme right (left) lane and give way to pedestrians and vehicles moving from other directions.

Traffic light with flashing red signal

A red flashing signal (as a rule, on traffic lights with one red section flashing or two red sections flashing alternately) is used to fence intersections with tram lines when a tram is approaching, bridges during routing, road sections near airport runways when planes take off and land at a dangerous altitude . These traffic lights are similar to those used at railway crossings (see below).

Traffic lights installed at railway crossings

It consists of two horizontally located red lanterns and, at some crossings, one lunar-white lantern. The white lantern is located between the red ones, below or above the line connecting them. The meaning of the signals is as follows:

two alternately flashing red lights - traffic through the crossing is prohibited; this signal is usually accompanied by an audible alarm (bell);
A flashing white light means that the crossing's technical system is in good working order. Because it is not illuminated when the crossing is closed or closed, the white-moon lantern is often incorrectly considered a permissive signal.

Sometimes, instead of a lunar-white lantern, a green non-blinking lantern is installed, which, unlike the lunar-white one, is a permissive signal. Often there is no moon-white light, the traffic light consists of only two red lights.

Reversible traffic light

To regulate traffic along the lanes of the roadway (especially where reversible traffic is possible), special lane control traffic lights (reversible) are used. In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, such traffic lights may have two or three signals:

red X-shaped signal prohibits movement in the lane;
a green arrow pointing down allows movement;
an additional signal in the form of a diagonal yellow arrow informs about a change in the operating mode of the lane and indicates the direction in which it must be left.

Traffic lights for route vehicles

A T-shaped traffic light in Moscow shows the signal “traffic is prohibited”

To regulate the movement of route vehicles (trams, buses, trolleybuses), or the route movement of all vehicles, special traffic lights are used, the type of which differs from country to country.

Meaning of signals (from left to right)

Driving straight ahead is allowed
Driving to the left is allowed
Driving to the right is allowed
Movement in all directions is allowed (similar to the green signal of a car traffic light)
Driving is prohibited unless emergency braking is required to stop (similar to a yellow traffic light)
Traffic is prohibited (similar to a red traffic light)

Because of its specific appearance, the Dutch traffic light received the nickname negenoog, that is, “nine eyes”.

Traffic light for pedestrians

Traffic light for bicycles in Vienna

Such traffic lights regulate the movement of pedestrians through a pedestrian crossing. As a rule, it has two types of signals: permissive and prohibitive. Typically, green and red light are used for this purpose, respectively. The signals themselves have different shapes. Most often, signals are used in the form of a silhouette of a person: red - standing, green - walking. In the United States, the red signal is often performed in the form of a silhouette of a raised palm (the “stop” gesture). Sometimes the inscriptions “don’t walk” and “walk” are used (in English “Don’t Walk” and “Walk”, in other languages - similarly). In the Norwegian capital, two standing figures painted red are used to prohibit pedestrian traffic. This is done so that the visually impaired or people suffering from color blindness can understand whether they can walk or need to stand. On busy highways, as a rule, automatically switching traffic lights are installed. But an option is often used when the traffic light switches after pressing a special button and allows the transition for a certain time after that.

Modern traffic lights for pedestrians are additionally equipped with sound signals intended for blind pedestrians, and sometimes with a countdown display (first appeared in France in 1998).

red - the path is busy, travel is prohibited;
yellow - travel is permitted with a speed limit (40 km/h) and until the next section of the stretch;
green - 2 or more areas are free, travel is allowed;
lunar white - an invitation signal (placed at railway stations, marshalling and freight stations).

Also, traffic lights or additional light signs can inform the driver about the route or otherwise specify the indication. If two yellow lights are on at the entrance traffic light, this means that the train will deviate along the arrows, the next signal is closed, and if there are two yellow lights and the top one is flashing, the next signal is open.

There is a separate type of two-color railway traffic lights - shunting ones, which give the following signals:

Sometimes a railway traffic light is mistakenly called a semaphore.

River traffic lights

River traffic lights are designed to regulate the movement of river vessels. Mainly used to regulate the passage of ships through locks. Such traffic lights have signals of two colors - red and green.

Distinguish distant And neighbors river traffic lights. Distant traffic lights allow or prohibit ships from approaching the lock. Nearby traffic lights are installed directly in front of and inside the lock chamber on the right side in the direction of the vessel. They regulate the entry of ships into and out of the lock chamber.

It should be noted that a non-working river traffic light (none of the signals is lit) prohibits the movement of vessels.

There are also river traffic lights in the form of a single yellow-orange lantern, built into the “No anchoring” sign to indicate this sign at night. They have three lenses of the specified color, directed downstream, against the current and perpendicular.

Traffic lights in motorsport

In motorsports, traffic lights may be installed at marshal's stations, at the pit lane exit and at the starting line.

The starting traffic light is suspended above the track so that it is clearly visible to everyone standing at the start. Arrangement of lights: “red - green” or “yellow - green - red”. The traffic lights are duplicated on the opposite side (so that all fans and judges can see the start procedure). Often at a racing traffic light there is not one red light, but several (in case the lamp burns out).

The starting traffic lights are as follows:

Red: Prepare to start!
Red goes out: Start! (start from a place)
Green: Start! (running start, qualifying, warm-up lap)
Flashing yellow: Stop engines!

The signals for a standing start and a rolling start are different for this reason. The fading red does not allow you to start reflexively - this reduces the likelihood that someone will start moving at the “alarming” yellow light. During a rolling start, this problem does not arise, but it is important for the drivers to know whether the start has been given (if the judge considers the starting formation to be inappropriate, the cars are sent to a second formation lap). In this case, the green start signal is more informative.

In some racing series there are other signals.

Marshal traffic lights are found mainly on oval tracks and give the same commands that marshals give with flags (red - stop the race, yellow - dangerous section, etc.)

Traffic light object control unit

In the language of road services traffic light object are called several traffic lights that are controlled by a common electronic unit and act as a single unit.

The simplest way to control a traffic light is electromechanical, using a cam mechanism. More advanced electromechanical controllers had several operating programs (several cam packages) - for different intersection loads. Modern traffic lights use microprocessor circuits.

In large cities suffering from traffic jams, traffic light objects are connected to a unified traffic control system (usually via a GSM modem). This allows you to quickly change traffic light operating programs (including temporarily, for several hours or days) and synchronize traffic light objects with each other with an accuracy of seconds. All programs are drawn up and approved by the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.

For the passage of pedestrians through a busy highway, as well as at unequal intersections, call controllers are used, giving a green signal when a car is approaching from a secondary direction (for this purpose, an inductive sensor is located under the asphalt), or when the pedestrian presses a button.

Railway traffic lights are connected to the executive part of the signaling, centralization and blocking system.

Additional Interfaces

Traffic light with sound for blind pedestrians

Traffic light with countdown

In some countries, traffic lights are additionally equipped with a TOV (time display), showing how many seconds are left before the traffic light status changes. In Russia, such traffic lights are relatively rare; they are most often found in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities.

One way to improve the efficiency of a traffic light is to adapt it for use by blind people. In conditions where increased attention is needed, such additions are also useful for ordinary people.

This is the sound that is triggered when the colors change: a slow tick (“wait”) or a fast tick (“go”).

A traffic light (from Russian light and Greek φορоς - “carrying”) is an optical signaling device designed to regulate the movement of people, bicycles, cars and other road users, railway and subway trains, river and sea vessels.

In fact, the very first traffic light was installed on December 10, 1868 in London near the British Parliament. Its inventor, J.P. Knight, was a specialist in railway semaphores. The traffic light was manually controlled and had two semaphore wings: raised horizontally meant a stop signal, and lowered at an angle of 45° meant moving with caution.

In the dark, a rotating gas lamp was used, with the help of which red and green signals were given, respectively. The traffic light was used to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street, and its signals were intended for vehicles - while pedestrians are walking, cars must stop. On January 2, 1869, a gas lamp at a traffic light exploded, injuring the traffic light policeman.

On August 5, 1914, in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, the American Traffic Light Company installed four electric traffic lights designed by James Hogue at the intersection of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue. They had a red and green signal and made a beep when switching. The system was controlled by a police officer sitting in a glass booth at an intersection. Traffic lights set traffic rules similar to those adopted in modern America: a right turn was carried out at any time in the absence of obstacles, and a left turn was made when the signal was green around the center of the intersection.

In Australia, in the 30s, they invented an unusual traffic light that worked on the principle of a clock - you had to act depending on the color of the field on which the arrow was currently located.

In 1920, three-color traffic lights using a yellow signal were installed in Detroit, Michigan, USA, and New York. The inventors were William Potts and John F. Harris, respectively.

The first Japanese traffic lights had a blue permitting signal, then it was changed to green, but residents of the country, out of habit, still call it “blue”

The first three-color traffic light in 1920

In Europe, similar traffic lights were first installed in 1922 in Paris at the intersection of Rue de Rivoli and Sevastopol Boulevard and in Hamburg at Stephansplatz Square. In England - in 1927 in the city of Wolverhampton.

In the USSR, the first traffic light was installed on January 15, 1930 in Leningrad at the intersection of 25 October and Volodarsky avenues (now Nevsky and Liteyny avenues). And the first traffic light in Moscow appeared on December 30 of the same year at the corner of Petrovka and Kuznetsky Most streets.

Photo from 1931. This is the second traffic light installed in Moscow - at the corner of Kuznetsky and Neglinka.

In the mid-1990s, green LEDs with sufficient brightness and color purity were invented, and experiments with LED traffic lights began. Moscow became the first city in which LED traffic lights began to be used en masse.

Types of traffic lights

A T-shaped traffic light in Moscow shows the signal “traffic is prohibited”

Sometimes traffic light signals are supplemented with a special countdown board, which shows how long the signal will remain on. Most often, a countdown board is made for a green traffic light, but in some cases the board also displays the remaining time of the red light.

Traffic light from the designer Stanislav Katz. All three colors on it are reproduced by one flashlight consisting of a matrix of green and red LEDs.

Flashing signals may also appear, the meaning of which may vary depending on local regulations. In Russia and many European countries, a flashing green signal means an upcoming switch to yellow.

A flashing yellow signal requires you to reduce speed to pass through an intersection or pedestrian crossing as unregulated (for example, at night, when regulation is not required due to low traffic volume).

The cost of one traffic light facility, depending on its technical equipment and the complexity of the road section, ranges from 800 thousand rubles to 2.5 million rubles.

Traffic lights may have additional sections in the form of arrows or arrow outlines that regulate traffic in one direction or another.

A red flashing signal is used to fence off intersections with tram lines when a tram is approaching, bridges during construction, road sections near airport runways when aircraft take off and land at a dangerous altitude.

The traffic light installed at railway crossings consists of two horizontally located red lights and, at some crossings, one moon-white light. The white lantern is located between the red ones, below or above the line connecting them. Sometimes, instead of the moon-white lantern, a green non-blinking lantern is placed.

To regulate traffic along the lanes of the roadway (especially where reverse traffic is possible), special traffic lights are used - reversible ones.

Reversible traffic lights

In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, such traffic lights may have two or three signals:

a red X-shaped signal prohibits movement in the lane;

a green arrow pointing down allows movement;

an additional signal in the form of a diagonal yellow arrow informs about a change in the operating mode of the lane and indicates the direction in which it must be left.

In the Nordic countries, traffic lights with three sections are used, the same in location and purpose as standard traffic lights, but having a white color and the shape of signs: “S” - for a signal prohibiting movement, “—” - for a warning signal, a direction arrow - for permissive signal.

Traffic lights for route vehicles in the Netherlands (top row) and Belgium (bottom row)

Traffic lights for pedestrians regulate the movement of people through a pedestrian crossing. As a rule, it has two types of signals: permissive and prohibitive.

Most often, signals are used in the form of a person’s silhouette: red for standing, green for walking. In the United States, the red signal is often performed in the form of a silhouette of a raised palm (the “stop” gesture). Sometimes they use the inscriptions “don’t walk” and “walk” (in English “Don’t Walk” and “Walk”, in other languages - similarly). In the Norwegian capital, two standing figures painted red are used to prohibit pedestrian traffic. This is done so that the visually impaired or people suffering from color blindness can understand whether they can walk or need to stand.

Pedestrian traffic light in Norway

An option is often used when the traffic light switches after pressing a special button and allows the transition for a certain time after that.

Modern traffic lights for pedestrians are also additionally equipped with sound signals intended for blind pedestrians.

Traffic light sound module for blind pedestrians

During the existence of the GDR, traffic light signals for pedestrians had the original form of a small “traffic light” man.

Souvenirs with the image of a traffic light man

To regulate the movement of bicycles, special traffic lights are sometimes used. This could be a traffic light, the signals of which are made in the shape of a bicycle silhouette. They are smaller in size and are installed at a comfortable height for cyclists.

Traffic light for bicycles in Vienna

South Korean designers have developed a traffic light for colorblind people. The development, called Uni-Signal (short for Universal Sign Light), is based on the original idea of giving the sections of automatic traffic controllers the shape of different geometric shapes.

Traffic light with timer

TAKE LED traffic lights in Taiwan

And here is another photo on the topic of traffic lights

Installation by Pierre Vivant: neither a tree nor a traffic light

There was a time when only riders on horses, chariots and horse-drawn carts rode on the streets and roads. They can be considered the first vehicles. They traveled without observing any rules, and therefore often collided with each other. After all, city streets in those days were usually narrow, and the roads were winding and bumpy. It became clear that it was necessary to streamline traffic on streets and roads, that is, to invent rules that would make traffic on them convenient and safe.

The first traffic rules appeared more than 2000 years ago, under Julius Caesar.

They helped regulate traffic on city streets. Some of these rules have survived to this day. For example, already in those ancient times, only one-way traffic was allowed on many streets.

In Russia, road traffic was regulated by royal decrees. Thus, in the decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna of 1730 it was said: “Carriers and other people of all ranks should ride with horses in harness, with all fear and caution, at attention. And those who do not comply with these rules will be beaten with a whip and sent to hard labor.” And the decree of Empress Catherine II says: “On the streets, coachmen should never shout, whistle, ring or jingle.”

At the end of the 18th century, the first “self-propelled carriages”—cars—appeared. They drove very slowly and caused criticism and ridicule from many. For example, in England they introduced a rule according to which a person with a red flag or lantern had to walk in front of each car and warn oncoming carriages and riders. And the speed of movement should not exceed 3 kilometers per hour; in addition, drivers were prohibited from giving warning signals. These were the rules: don’t whistle, don’t breathe, and crawl like a turtle.

But, despite everything, there were more and more cars. And in 1893, the first rules for motorists appeared in France. At first, different countries had different rules. But it was very inconvenient.

Therefore, in 1909, at the International Conference in Paris, the Convention on Automobile Traffic was adopted, which established uniform rules for all countries. This Convention introduced the first road signs and established the responsibilities of drivers and pedestrians.

Modern traffic rules are almost 100 years old.

History of traffic lights

Do you know when the familiar traffic light appeared?

It turns out that traffic control using a mechanical device began 140 years ago, in London. The first traffic light stood in the city center on a pole 6 meters high. It was controlled by a specially assigned person. Using a belt system, he raised and lowered the instrument needle. Then the arrow was replaced by a lantern powered by lamp gas. The lantern had green and red glasses, but yellow ones had not yet been invented.

The first electric traffic light appeared in the USA, in the city of Cleveland, in 1914. It also had only two signals - red and green - and was controlled manually. The yellow signal replaced the police warning whistle. But just 4 years later, three-color electric traffic lights with automatic control appeared in New York.

Interestingly, in the first traffic lights the green signal was at the top, but then they decided that it was better to place the red signal on top. And now in all countries of the world, traffic lights are located according to the same rule: red at the top, yellow in the middle, green at the bottom.

We have the first in our country traffic light appeared in 1929 in Moscow. It looked like a round clock with three sectors - red, yellow and green. And the adjuster manually turned the arrow, setting it to the desired color.

Then in Moscow and Leningrad (as St. Petersburg was then called) electric traffic lights with three sections of the modern type appeared. And in 1937 in Leningrad, on Zhelyabova Street (now Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street), near the DLT department store, the first pedestrian traffic light appeared.

The history of driving using light signals goes back more than 3 thousand years

August 5 is International Traffic Light Day. Almost anniversary: 99 years. Not many technical inventions can boast that the UN has established a holiday in their honor. It was the automatic traffic light that for the first time made it possible to solve almost the main problem of road traffic - it provided fair and equal access to the road for all its participants. Perhaps not all motorists celebrate the holiday, but city planners and traffic planners certainly do.

The history of traffic lights goes back many millennia. There is a known decree of the ancient Babylonian king Hammurabi (reigned around 1793 BC - 1750 BC), prohibiting chariots from blocking the passage to the palace. It was not included in the famous “laws of Hammurabi,” but specially trained slave regulators appeared at the palace. At night, the traffic controller hung a yoke with two pumpkins at the ends on his shoulders. The containers were filled with a mixture of oil (oil seeps to the surface were found in Iraq until the 1950s) and mineral additives. The mixture was ignited through a wick; on the right shoulder the flame was red, on the left it was green. A living traffic light raised its hand, allowing or closing passage.

It was similar in Ancient Rome. Regulators with red and green flags are still used to organize the movement of military convoys. But this is how the generally accepted colors of the traffic light arose, and not the traffic light itself. Traffic lights came into traffic from the railways, and at first they were a copy of the switch semaphore for trains. The first traffic light was installed on December 10, 1868 in London near Parliament. Its inventor is John Peake Knight; semaphore specialist.

The semaphore traffic light was manually controlled and had two arrows. Raised horizontally they meant “stop”, and lowered at an angle of 45° - “carefully”. A red and green gas lamp rotated in the darkness. This device was used for the first time to signal not only vehicles, but also pedestrians wishing to cross the street. On January 2, 1869, a lamp exploded, injuring a traffic light policeman. Its design has been changed. Less than a year later, a similar device appeared on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg.

But “traffic light day” is not associated with a gas appliance. And he regulated the movement of carriages, not cars. The USA became the pioneer of motorization. There arose an order for a traffic light from the authorities of large cities. More than 50 traffic light models were patented. The first automatic system was developed and patented in 1910 by Ernst Sirrin from Chicago. Its traffic lights used unlit Stop and Proceed signs. Lester Wire from Salt Lake City (USA) is considered the inventor of the first electric traffic light. In 1912, he developed (but did not patent) a traffic light with two round electric signals (red and green).

But we celebrate August 5, 1914, when the American Traffic Light Company installed four electric traffic lights designed by James Hogue in Cleveland. They had red and green signals and made a beep when switching. The system was not automatic and was operated by a police officer in a glass booth at the intersection. In 1920, the first three-color traffic lights with a yellow signal appeared. They were installed in Detroit and New York. The inventors were William Potts and John F. Harris. In Europe, three-color traffic lights were first installed in 1922 in Paris at the intersection of Rue de Rivoli and Sevastopol Boulevard and in Hamburg at Stephansplatz. In England - in 1927 in the city of Wolverhampton.

But the UN would hardly pay attention to this. Traffic Light Day is a holiday with a double bottom. Coincidentally, on August 5, 1923, American Garratt A. Morgan (1877-1963) patented the first fully automatic traffic light. He was motivated by the idea of justice. “The purpose of the product is to make the order of passage through an intersection independent of the person of the motorist,” his patent says. There was even a proverb: “God created motorists, and Garret Morgan made them equal,”

Garret Morgan is considered the “father of the traffic light”: after 1925, all traffic lights in the world were built according to his design. This continues today. By the way, he became one of the first black millionaires in the USA, and he has not the only patent for a traffic light.

Green LEDs were invented in the mid-1990s. Moscow became the first city in the world where LED traffic lights began to be used en masse. And this year, the city authorities are conducting an experiment “right on red”: the traffic light continues to be improved.

The appearance of the first traffic light

The first device designed to regulate traffic by sending special signals to its participants appeared back in 1868. It was then that such a device was installed near the English Parliament building in London.

It was created by railway engineer John Pick Knight, who used his experience working with railway semaphores, which worked on a similar principle to traffic lights.

Naturally, the first example of a traffic light was not similar to its modern counterparts. So it was controlled manually, and its design was the simplest: two semaphore arrows that could move freely in a vertical plane.

At the same time, an arrow in a horizontal position indicated a requirement to stop, and if it rose up to 45 degrees, this meant a warning that road users should move with the utmost caution.

At night, the traffic light used a gas lamp with colored illumination for its operation, while a red light meant an order to stop, and a green light meant permission to continue further movement.

The first traffic light in the history of mankind was installed on a pole six meters long and was intended to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road and its signals were not intended for them, but for vehicles traveling along the roadway.

Unfortunately, the fate of the first traffic light was unfortunate: in 1869, a gas lamp in it exploded and injured the policeman driving it. After this incident it was dismantled and for the next 50 years not a single traffic light was installed in London.

Creation of automatic traffic lights

The main disadvantage of the first traffic lights was the fact that they required a person to operate them. It is clear that under such circumstances it was impossible to provide traffic lights to a large number of streets in cities. Therefore, inventors focused their efforts on creating automatic devices for regulating traffic.

It is believed that the first such system was created by Ernst Sirin, who received it in 1910. At the same time, she used a system of signs with the inscriptions “Stop” and “Proceed”, which, respectively, prohibited and permitted movement. This system did not use backlighting, which made it difficult to use in the dark.

The traffic light in its modern form was created in 1912 by Utah inventor Lester Wire. It already ran on electricity and had two round lamps, green and red. True, Wire did not patent his design.

However, the widespread use of traffic lights on city streets began when, on August 5, 1914, four traffic lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio, by the American Traffic Light Company. They were located at the intersection of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue, and their creator was James Hogue.

These devices also had two electric lights, and when switched they emitted a sound signal. The operation of the device was controlled by a policeman located in a special glass booth located at the intersection.

Devices with the familiar three-color color scheme appeared much later, in 1920, on the streets of New York and Detroit. Their creators were John F. Harris and William Potts.

Europe lagged somewhat behind the United States in the process of “traffic lights” and the first electric traffic light appeared there in France in 1922, and in England this device was installed only in 1927.

In the Land of Soviets, the first traffic light was installed on January 15, 1930 in Leningrad. They placed it at the intersection of Nevsky and Liteiny prospects. In the capital of the country, this traffic control system was installed a little later - on December 30 of the same 1930. They placed it on the corner of Petrovka and Kuznetsky Most. Rostov-on-Don became the third city equipped with a traffic light.

All these traffic lights were installed as an experiment, and after its completion, about a hundred such devices were installed in Moscow alone by the end of 1933.

At the same time, the traffic lights of that time differed from the ones we are used to in that they used the operating principle of a mechanical clock, where the hand pointed not to the time, but to a colored field indicating the driving mode. They were quickly replaced with the familiar electric lamps with a vertical arrangement of lamps, but they were not the same as we were used to. The fact is that the arrangement of colors in this design was not ordinary, but inverted: green came on top, then yellow and red.

The word “traffic light” itself entered the Russian language in 1932, when it was included in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

Construction of modern traffic lights

Modern traffic lights are quite complex devices and consist of a traffic light itself with lamps, a traffic alarm controller, as well as vehicle sensors. They are installed on special poles and supports at intersections and along highways.

A modern traffic light is controlled by a computer, which selects and synchronizes directions of movement according to the constantly changing traffic situation. At the same time, motion sensors detect vehicles moving along the highway, setting their driving rhythm using light signals.

In large cities, traffic lights are combined into large automated traffic control systems, which can create quite complex effects such as, for example, a “green wave”.

Further development of traffic lights as a means of traffic control will lie in the development of artificial intelligence, which, over time, will be able to take on all the functions of regulating traffic flows, completely excluding humans from this process.