First Traffic Lights

Lights being installed in San Diego in 1940

The first electric traffic light was installed on August 5, 1914, in Cleveland, Ohio. Before that, gas-powered lights were tried. The first ones were installed in the area of the Houses of Parliament in London in 1868. Horse-drawn traffic had become a problem in the congested area. Just one month later, one of the lights exploded, injuring a policeman. Needless to say, the lights quickly lost some of their appeal, but they continued to be used, especially in the United States.

Prior to the search for an apparatus to help direct and control traffic, the police did the job. A well-documented example can found around London Bridge in 1722. Three policemen directed the flow of traffic, trying to keep traffic on the bridge from clogging and coming to a standstill. This method is still used at times today, and over the years, some traffic directors have made their movements into almost an art form and certainly a form of entertainment.

Other methods had also been tried. The French put a traffic- controlling device on top of a tower in Paris in 1912. A policewoman manually operated the signal by turning a metal box with the words meaning "Stop" and "Go" on it. Roundabouts have long been popular in some areas and are becoming more so in others. However, electric traffic lights are by far the most commonly found means of traffic control in heavily congested areas.

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