Which Came First: Cars or Traffic Lights?
2 Answers
Traffic lights were invented 17 years earlier than cars. Initially, traffic lights were created for the passage of horse-drawn carriages and had nothing to do with automobiles. History of Traffic Lights: 1. Early Form: In 1858, gas-powered red and blue mechanical lever-operated signal lights were installed on major streets in London, England, to direct horse-drawn carriage traffic. These were the world's earliest traffic signals. In 1868, British mechanical engineer J.P. Knight installed the world's first gas-powered traffic lights in front of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. They consisted of rotating square glass lanterns in red and green, with red indicating 'stop' and green indicating 'caution'. 2. Electric Traffic Lights: In 1914, electrically operated traffic lights appeared in the United States. These lights featured red, green, and yellow circular projectors and were mounted on a tower at Fifth Avenue in New York City. A red light meant 'stop', and a green light meant 'go'. 3. Official Use: In 1968, the United Nations 'Convention on Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals' standardized the meanings of various traffic lights. The introduction of traffic lights enabled effective traffic control, significantly improving traffic flow, road capacity, and reducing accidents.
I've gone through a lot of automotive history materials, and it's absolutely clear that cars existed before traffic lights. The modern automobile was invented by Karl Benz in 1886, when there were hardly any cars on the road, and traffic relied entirely on pedestrians' attention or police hand signals. However, as Henry Ford popularized mass production, cars became widespread in the 1910s, and urban traffic suddenly became chaotic, with frequent accidents. So it wasn't until 1923 that Garrett Morgan invented the first electric traffic light to solve the problem. The birth of traffic lights was a response to the safety needs brought about by the increase in cars. If cars hadn't appeared, who would have thought of installing traffic lights on empty roads? This shows that technology always evolves from practical scenarios and also illustrates that social development cannot do without innovation.
