The Traffic Light:Enhancing Transportation

in the Roaring 1920’s

By the1920’s,

there werealready

new and improved forms of transportation—ships, airplanes, cars, and of course,

trains. Transportation provided not only a means of getting from place to place,

buta new andinnovativeway of life.

Thanks to Henry Ford, the inflexible American industrialist, the assembly line and conveyer belt furthered mass production. Now, not only were

more meat packages produced, but more automobiles also—and at low prices too. An easy

enough job working at one of these assembly lines, women found work here and contributed

money to supporting their families.

But what was one to do about the increasing chaos on the streets? There

was a huge concern about the ever increasing number of vehicles

simultaneously moving on the streets.

It seemed as if this disorder would lead to a number of different issues. It caused more accidents and was more difficult

and dangerous for pedestrians who were trying to cross the road.

Police stepped in in their attempt to bring safety, order, organization to the flow of

traffic between automobiles and pedestrians. But these police, along with many other Americans of this time, knew

there had to be a simpler way…

…and Police Officer William L. Potts of Detroit, Michigan discovered that

solution. Railroads were using automatic controls, so he adapted these signals for

the streets to. Red; amber; and green railroad lights plus thirty-seven dollars worth of wire and electrical controls

made the world’s first 4-way three color traffic light.

http://www.drivingschool.ca/drivereducation/page16.html

In the year of 1920, this

newly conceived

traffic light was

installed on the corner

of Woodward

and Michigan

Avenues in Detroit.

By 1921, the city of Detroit had installed a

total of fifteen of these new automatic

lights.

Three years later, in 1923,

Garrett Morgan, the first African-American to own an automobile,

invented the electric automatic traffic light

. Realizing that Ohio was in need of control over the flow of traffic, he applied for a patent to produce inexpensive traffic lights. This had three positions (stop,

go, and the third halting all traffic to allow

pedestrians to cross the street more safely) on a

T-shaped pole.

"This invention relates to traffic signals, and particularly to those

which are adapted to be positioned adjacent the intersection of two or

more streets and are manually operable for directing the flow of traffic... In addition, my invention contemplates the provision of a signal which may be readily and cheaply manufactured." Garrett

Morgan

America was not the only country to adopt the traffic light. Other countries began using

the traffic light to enhance

transportation and promote safety.

1927: England’s first use of automatic

experimental traffic lights in

Wolverhampton.

These inventions in the 1920’s allowed for more transportation enhancement. More traffic lights were installed all over the world, in

addition to new traffic

signals. Now, pedestrians know when it is safe to cross the street, and cars know when to yield

to them. Worldly, safety on the streets has improved greatly.

Not only did pedestrians feel safer crossing the road when they knew no

traffic was approaching, but drivers felt more safe taking comfort in knowing that

there was an organized system preventing many accidents. This opened up many other doors for transportation and road methods of keeping everyone feeling secure and under control in the

hectic time period of the Roaring 1920’s. Thanks to this time period,

driving and being on the streets today has become a safer activity.