The First Traffic Light

Here is a little unknown fact about the good old traffic light, which at the same time is both a little bit strange and very true. In this current age of technology in 2014, traffic lights have come a long long way from their humble beginnings from years ago. Today traffic lights are composed of modern little multiple LED light bulbs. So if one or more of those miniature bulbs burn out the traffic light keeps on working. The next time you are stopped at a traffic light, take a minute to look up at it. You will see a whole bunch of little balls of light in the traffic light lens. Those little balls of light are actually all of the miniature LED lights, which now tell you to stop and start. This new technology also reduces the labor which was needed to often change the much larger single bulb on the older style traffic lights. When those older bulbs burned out the entire red, yellow or green area of that traffic light didn't work, and was rendered useless until it was repaired with a replacement bulb. Back in the early days of the automobile, traffic lights weren't around because there was no need for them yet. But as more cars and trucks congested the roadways, police officers were called in to direct traffic, especially in the larger cities. The very first traffic signal began operating 100 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio in the year 1914. However the first traffic light wasn't much of a labor-saver. For it to operate, a police officer had to sit in a nearby booth where he could over see the traffic. At least that got the police officer out of harms way, and out of the weather, but manpower was still necessary for traffic direction. In the past 97 years we all have really come a long way. This will now complete, and conclude your class in "Traffic Light 101".