1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. When I am picking episodes to run as 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,440 Speaker 1: Saturday Classics, I like to keep an eye out for 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: things like anniversaries and birthdays, and I stumbled onto one 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: that delighted me this time around, which is that the 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: first traffic light was installed one hundred and fifty five 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: years ago today, on December ninth, eighteen sixty eight. It 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: was patterned after signals that were already in U sport trains. 8 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: We talked about this in our episode on the Rise 9 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: of Traffic Lights, which originally ran August nineteenth, twenty nineteen. 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: One of the things that we talked about in this 11 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,279 Speaker 1: episode is the effect that traffic lights have had on safety, 12 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: which is one of many factors affecting safety for everyone 13 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: who uses the roads. Motor vehicle deaths in the US 14 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: have continued to be much lower than they were before 15 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: traffic signals were introduced if you factor in how many 16 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: vehicles are on the road. As an update on that, 17 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: since this episode came out, death rates and motor vehicle 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: crashes have actually been increasing, and death rates for pedestrians 19 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: have been rising much much faster than that of other 20 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,919 Speaker 1: road users. According to a report from the Governor's Highway 21 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: Safety Association drivers killed more than seventy five hundred pedestrians 22 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: with their vehicles in twenty twenty two. That is the 23 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: highest number since nineteen eighty one. Other than that upsetting statistic, 24 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 25 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and Welcome to the podcast. I'm 26 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: Holly Frye and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. So, Tracy. Traffic 27 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: lights are part of everyday life. Uh huh. I mean 28 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: I grew up in a place that had none that 29 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: now has a blinker light, but still I grew up 30 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: in a place that are where the area we live 31 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: did not have any, and now it has dozens. It 32 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: grew very quickly but pretty common at this point, and 33 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: both pedestrians and drivers tend to count on them, particularly 34 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: in cities. And recently, as I was sitting in my 35 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: car at a stop light late at night, I was 36 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 1: on my way home from the airport, and the light 37 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: refused to turn, so I eventually had to make a 38 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: right turn instead of the left turn I was trying 39 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: to make, and then you turn so that I could 40 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,119 Speaker 1: get through that intersection without breaking laws. And it got 41 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: me to wondering who invented traffic lights? Also because it 42 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: was late at night and my brain works that way 43 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,239 Speaker 1: when I'm Meandre And it turns out that if you 44 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: google that question, you get a whole lot of different answers. 45 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: So I thought it might be fun to look at 46 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: a few of the moments in traffic light history that 47 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: got us where we are today and talk about some 48 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: of those various contenders to the who did it first question. 49 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: But before we get into the traffic lights origins, we're 50 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: going to cover a little bit of what made traffic 51 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: lights and necessity in the first place. That, of course 52 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: was cars, and cars have a whole history all on 53 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: their own, because, like a lot of other inventions, a 54 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: whole lot of different inventions had to happen to get 55 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: to the point where there was a vehicle that could 56 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: actually carry a driver and get somewhere. It wasn't as 57 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: though one person was kind of toiling away with the 58 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: idea and then a car popped out of their workshop 59 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: fully formed. And this is an issue that comes with 60 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: some debate about who should get credit for what, similar 61 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: to the development of the airplane. So we're not here 62 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: to tease out that particular debate today we're going to 63 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: focus on the debate of traffic lights, but it is 64 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: worth noting some of the inventions along the way. So 65 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: Nikola Joseph Kuno, for example, built a steam powered tractor 66 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: for the French military in seventeen sixty nine and that 67 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: could reach the blistering speed of about two point five 68 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: miles per hour. And an electric carriage was being worked 69 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: on in Scotland by a man named Robert Anderson as 70 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: really as the eighteen thirties. But it's Carl Friedrich Benz 71 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: who usually gets the credit for inventing the first vehicle 72 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: that someone might actually call a car or automobile in 73 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: terms of how we think of it today. In the 74 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: mid eighteen eighties, he came up with a design for 75 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: a gasoline vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. This 76 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: car had three wheels and he patented it in his 77 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: home country of Germany. In eighteen seventy six, George Baldwin Selden, 78 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: a US inventor, started designing a vehicle with an internal 79 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: combustion engine. Also, he never built one of his cars, 80 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: which was designed with four wheels, but he did get 81 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: a patent for it, and then he licensed that patent 82 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: to other manufacturers. In eighteen eighty six, Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler 83 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: improved on previous efforts with his auto called a Constant Diimler, 84 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 1: which featured four wheels and a four stroke internal combustion engine. 85 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety three, brothers Charles and Edgar Durier became 86 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: the first US auto manufacturers with their car, which had 87 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: a four horse power, two stroke motor. Things really got 88 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: moving at the dawn of the twentieth century. In nineteen 89 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: oh one, Diimler's company produced a Mercedes that jumped the 90 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: industry forward. It could go as fast as fifty three 91 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: miles per hour, and it had a thirty five horsepower engine. 92 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: Not everyone was keeping pace with the level of engineering 93 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: that was coming out of Germany, but the Mercedes was 94 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: not something everyone could afford or have access to. About 95 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: the same time, Ransom E. Olds introduced a much cheaper 96 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: vehicle in the United States that was far less powerful. 97 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: It only had three horse power and it was steered 98 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: with a tiller. Yeah. I like to think of these 99 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: things happening concurrently, like this goes fifty three miles per hour. 100 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: It's super fast and pretty amazing. I got a tiller, 101 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 1: but was it worked. In the United States, the rise 102 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: of the automobile's popularity is credited, of course, to Henry Ford. 103 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: It was Ford who managed to keep up with the 104 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: latest innovation and make cars more accessible to a wider 105 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: range of incomes. For example, that tiller situation was very 106 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: affordable but not really technologically advanced, and Ford kind of 107 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,119 Speaker 1: married these two concepts. By nineteen oh six, Ford Motor 108 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: Company was turning out one hundred cars a day from 109 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: its production line. The fifteen horsepower Ford Model N, which 110 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: was in production from nineteen oh six to nineteen oh seven, 111 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: sold for six hundred dollars, and its success was what 112 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: led to the development of the Model T, which debuted 113 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: in its earliest incarnation in October of nineteen oh eight 114 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: with a twenty horsepower engine, and it cost eight hundred 115 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 1: twenty five dollars. From that point, Ford continued to refine 116 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: the Model T for the next nineteen years, with subsequent 117 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: editions of the car coming in at lower and lower 118 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: price points, falling all the way down to less than 119 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: three hundred dollars in nineteen twenty seven. So, naturally, with 120 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: more and more people able to afford motor cars. Roads 121 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: got busier and busier, and that led to the rather 122 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: predictable problems of traffic and accidents. It's estimated that by 123 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, there were two million drivers in the US 124 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: and one point two million vehicles on the road. At 125 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: this point, the rules of the road were pretty nebulous 126 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 1: in more rural areas, while roads were less established. There 127 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: were also not all that many drivers, but in cities, 128 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: population dence also meant traffic density. Also, in nineteen thirteen, 129 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: New York City was said to have gotten to the 130 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: point where it had two traffic jams each day at 131 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: peak hours. Chicago was experiencing slow down of its city 132 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: trolley service because the main thoroughfares became jammed, making it 133 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: difficult to maintain a regular schedule. By nineteen sixteen, San 134 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: Francisco had twenty six thousand cars on the streets, as 135 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: well as ten thousand horse buggies. So there's also that 136 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: multiple different kinds of vehicles taking up the road problem, 137 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: and there was often talk in major cities that traffic 138 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:37,239 Speaker 1: made automobiles slower than horse carts. Some people abandoned cars 139 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: pretty early on for this very reason. They thought it 140 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: was not in fact, an advancement. Press around the globe 141 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: featured stories debating the merits of cars and whether they 142 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: really represented a step forward or backward. And while early 143 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: cars were developed in Europe, especially France and Germany, the 144 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: costs remained high enough there that the increase in motor 145 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: traffic didn't pace as quickly as it did in the 146 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: United States. Europe didn't really start to have traffic issues 147 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: until the mid nineteen twenties. So you have probably seen 148 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: photographs of city streets from this era where there are 149 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: street cars, pedestrians, horse drawn carriages, and cars all on 150 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: the road at the same time. It almost always looks 151 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: pretty chaotic. That is because it was. Even though larger 152 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: cities sometimes stationed police at busy intersections to try to 153 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: manage things, that was not a super effective way to 154 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: do it, since there also wasn't always a really clear 155 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: set of rules or signals that all of those motorists, pedestrians, etc. 156 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: Would all recognize, and it tended to be a lot 157 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: of honking cars and whistleblowing and everyone still kind of 158 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: doing what they wanted and hopefully getting out of the way. 159 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: The National Safety Council started tracking automobile related deaths in 160 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, and that year four two hundred people died. 161 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirteen, an accident in Cleveland kind of brought 162 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: this problem into a sharp focus. There was a March 163 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: dinner party that had ended in George Harbaugh, who was 164 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: an oil man, was driving home and when he turned 165 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: onto the city's busy Euclid Avenue, his car was hit 166 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: by a street car. And there were no fatalities in 167 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 1: this particular case, although that was considered rather miraculous, and 168 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: it did make the papers and kind of started a 169 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: bigger discussion about it. Even before traffic accidents got to 170 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: be a big issue, enterprising problem solvers were on the case. 171 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: And depending on how you define a traffic light, there 172 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: are a few contenders for the title of first. We'll 173 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: talk about all those different firsts after we take a 174 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break. So before the break we mentioned lots 175 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 1: of different efforts at controlling traffic, and that means first 176 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about a man named John Peak Knight. 177 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: He was born in Nottingham, England, in eighteen twenty six, 178 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: and from the time he was just a child he 179 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: really loved trains. He left school at the age of 180 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: twelve so that he could work at the Midland Railway Company. 181 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: Although that was a job that was in the mail room, 182 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: it wasn't working directly with trains, but just the same 183 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: it started his railway career and he continued to work 184 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: for railway companies as he moved up the industry ladder. 185 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: He's sort of that classic like I started in the 186 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: mailroom and eventually I started running things. And he was 187 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:18,040 Speaker 1: really good in terms of having an eye for solving problems. 188 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: For example, the BBC, in an article about him, credited 189 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: him as the inventor of emergency brake cords in trains. 190 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty five, when he was in his late thirties, 191 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: Night had an idea he'd already been designing signaling systems 192 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: for trains, and couldn't that same system be adapted for 193 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: use on the roads. Again in eighteen sixty five, you'll 194 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: recall from the top of the show that while there 195 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: were some attempts at motorized vehicles that had been made 196 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,719 Speaker 1: before this time, there really weren't cars as we think 197 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: of them in existence, but there were more and more 198 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: horse drawn carriages. They were turning into a traffic problem, 199 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,439 Speaker 1: and more importantly, a safety issue for pedestrians, so Knight 200 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: suggested to the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police that he could 201 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: adapt the semaphore system used for trains to help with 202 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: managing road traffic. So his design featured arms that were 203 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: held in specific positions to signal whether it was safe 204 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 1: to pass, and for nighttime travelers this system would switch 205 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: over to using red and green lights. Those were colors 206 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: which were adapted from railway usage, and the railways had 207 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,439 Speaker 1: adapted those from maritime signals. Three years after having this idea, 208 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: Night's design was installed on December ninth, eighteen sixty eight 209 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: near London's Westminster Bridge and the intersection of Great George 210 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: Street and Bridge Street. A police officer had to operate 211 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: the signals, and to educate the public, flyers were posted 212 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: that explained how these lights worked. They showed images of 213 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: the semaphore arms lowered at an angle which meant you 214 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: could proceed but with caution, and with the arms raised 215 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: so that they were parallel with the ground and that 216 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 1: meant stop. And these flyers also explained that the green 217 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 1: and red lights would be used at night. The copy 218 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: on the flyer's read police notice street crossing signals. Bridge 219 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: Street Palace Yard. By the signal caution, all persons in 220 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 1: charge of vehicles and horses are warned to pass over 221 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: the crossing with care and due regard to the safety 222 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: of foot passengers. The signal stop will only be displayed 223 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,120 Speaker 1: when it is necessary that vehicles and horses shall be 224 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: actually stopped on each side of the crossing to allow 225 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: the passage of persons on foot. Notice being this given 226 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: to all persons in charge of vehicles and horses to 227 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: stop clear of the crossing. Richard Maine, Commissioner of the 228 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: London Metropolitan Police and once installed, this traffic light had 229 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,199 Speaker 1: a pretty immediate positive effect. People understood what it was about, 230 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: they had been educated, traffic was kind of under control, 231 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:44,200 Speaker 1: but unfortunately it was a short lived project. In early 232 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, so just around a month after it 233 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: had been installed, during an evening shift, one of the 234 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: gas lamps that was used for the light based night 235 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: signaling exploded due to a faulty gas mean and the 236 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: policeman that was on duty was very badly burned and 237 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: night system was immediately abandoned. In the United States, early 238 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: efforts were made and a number of cities to try 239 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: to control traffic before traffic signals came along, and they 240 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: had variable success. There was no one way to do it, 241 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: so everybody was trying their own thing. Some cities started 242 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 1: using sign systems that read things along the lines of 243 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: stop or proceed. These didn't light up, so they weren't 244 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: as much help at night, which was unfortunately when they 245 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 1: were needed the most. In nineteen twelve, a Salt Lake City, 246 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: Utah policeman named Lester Wire created his own traffic light. 247 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: Wyre was born on September third, eighteen eighty seven in 248 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,440 Speaker 1: Salt Lake, and as a young man, he enrolled at 249 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: the University of Utah, but the financial strain of paying 250 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: for school ended his education early. He left college in 251 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: nineteen ten, and at that point he took a job 252 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: on the city's police force. In nineteen twelve, the Salt 253 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: Lake City PD formed a new division to deal with traffic, 254 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,680 Speaker 1: and Wire was put in charge of that division. He 255 00:13:57,720 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: had to figure out a way to make order out 256 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: of the growing problem of having trolley's, pedestrian buggies, and 257 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,439 Speaker 1: cars all traveling the same roadways. At first, he wrote 258 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: regulations and rules to manage the traffic. Those were Salt 259 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: Lake City's first traffic laws, and he positioned a police 260 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,199 Speaker 1: officer at the city's busiest intersection to direct the traffic. 261 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: But he realized pretty quickly that while it did help 262 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 1: to have an officer directing traffic, this approach did not 263 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: seem terribly efficient, and it was actually a pretty hard 264 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: job for the officers involved. They would have to keep 265 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: that position manned in all kinds of weather, and shifts 266 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: were often really, really long, and there was also just 267 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: the inherent danger of standing in traffic trying to enforce 268 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: entirely new regulations. These concerns led Wire to start working 269 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: on his traffic light. His light is often described as 270 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: looking like a birdhouse, and that's apt, although in terms 271 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: of its size it's closer to a little fort area 272 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: in a cat condo. It had two round holes on 273 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: each of its four faces and was mounted on a 274 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: ten foot pole. It had red and green lights thanks 275 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: to bulbs that Lester Wire dipped into paint. This was 276 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: attached to overhead trolley wires and was manually operated by 277 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: a police officer using switches, So although it still had 278 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: to have a person operating it in this roadside booth, 279 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: it remained an improvement over standing in the middle of 280 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: the street to direct the traffic. Wire's invention inspired additional 281 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: innovation and it continued to impact Salt Lake City as 282 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: a front runner in traffic control. In nineteen seventeen, Salt 283 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 1: Lake City became the first city in the United States 284 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: with an interconnected traffic light system, which was automated by 285 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: the mid nineteen twenties. Wire did not get rich off 286 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: of this. He didn't patent his system. He continued working 287 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: on the police force and eventually became a detective, which 288 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: is what he did until he retired. Uh Cleveland, though, 289 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 1: often gets the claim to fame for the first electric light, 290 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: and that was thanks to engineer James Hodge. Hodge's design 291 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: included the words stop and go on light up signs 292 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: that sat on the four corners of an intersection, and 293 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: he had not yet received a patent on his traffic 294 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: light when he installed it, but it went up on 295 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: August fifth, nineteen fourteen, at the intersection of Euclid Avenue 296 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: and one hundred and fifth Street. You'll recall that story 297 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: about the person in the bad accident took place on 298 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: Euclid Avenue, so that was part of why it was 299 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: considered a good candidate for something like this. Unlike today's lights, 300 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: hodges invention wasn't on a timer or automated in any 301 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: way to change, with an inductive loop embedded in the road, 302 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: His light also had a human operator. A policeman was 303 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: stationed in a booth on the side of the intersection. 304 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: He manually changed the lights from red to green with 305 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: a switch. The system was designed to prevent any accidental 306 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: conflicts in the signals, which some other systems had encountered, 307 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: which is also sometimes a problem on trains, which was 308 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: one of the earlier inspirations for these ideas. Yeah, this 309 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: one like automatically you would have to cut off a 310 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: signal from one side to have the other one lit, 311 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: so that it fixed that little problem. Additionally, the Cleveland 312 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: system had a function that could trigger all of the 313 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: light to go red at once. It was basically like 314 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: one master switch that the policeman on duty could flip 315 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,080 Speaker 1: and that would allow emergency vehicles to pass without obstruction, 316 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 1: which is kind of a cool design. Additional safety elements 317 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: were included in the controller's booth. It actually had a telephone, 318 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: and it had two telegraph lines directly to the police 319 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: and the fire department. Hodge applied for a patent for 320 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: his design the municipal traffic control system and received that 321 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: patent in nineteen eighteen. But before that patent was issued, 322 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 1: the first automated system had been installed in San Francisco. 323 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: And there are more innovators to talk about in the 324 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: traffic lights origin story. But before we get to all those, 325 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: we're going to hear from one of the sponsors that 326 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: keep stuff you missed in history class going. So while 327 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: Hodge was awaiting his patent, another innovation was also developing 328 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventeen, this time in Detroit, Michigan. William Potts 329 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,160 Speaker 1: was a Detroit policeman born in eighteen eighty three who 330 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: saw the need for additional information for motorists in this 331 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: whole traffic light plan. He thought maybe they should warn 332 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: them about an impending red light. So it was Potts 333 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,680 Speaker 1: who added the yellow light to the traffic light equation 334 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,959 Speaker 1: that was first put into use in nineteen twenty. He 335 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: also innovated by developing the first four direction light. Garrett 336 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 1: Morgan was another man who saw the need for a 337 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 1: transitional warning in between driving and stopping. Morgan was born 338 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: on March fourth, eighteen seventy seven in Paris, Kentucky. He 339 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: was the son of a formerly enslaved man as his 340 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: father Sidney Morgan, and his mother was Elizabeth Reid, who 341 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,360 Speaker 1: was of Native American and African descent, and Morgan left 342 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,159 Speaker 1: school to work full time in his early teens. He 343 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: was incredibly clever when it came to figuring out how 344 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: machines worked and just being able to see a problem 345 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: and solve it. And actually he was also really interested 346 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,360 Speaker 1: in continuing his education because when he started to earn 347 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: money from his first job, which was a handyman, he 348 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 1: was working for a fairly wealthy employer. He used that 349 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: money to hire a tutor so he could continue to 350 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: get educated. He worked in the sewing machine industry, repairing 351 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 1: and refining machine design, developed a chemical relaxer for hair, 352 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,959 Speaker 1: and also created an early gas mask. In nineteen twenty three, 353 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: thanks once again to his ingenuity, he became part of 354 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: the history of traffic lights. Morgan's decision to work on 355 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,920 Speaker 1: the traffic problem allegedly came from having witnessed an accident 356 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: in an intersection, and he was also a motorist. He 357 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: was the first black man in Cleveland, where he was 358 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,879 Speaker 1: living at the time. To own a car, and he 359 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: saw that cars that suddenly saw a stop signal weren't 360 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: always able to break in a timely manner before they 361 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: got into the middle of the intersection, so he was like, 362 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: we should tell them the red lights coming. So Morgan's 363 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 1: design was a T shape with arms that transitioned from 364 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,400 Speaker 1: straight up to down at an angle, with positions for 365 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:54,639 Speaker 1: the arms that designated different messages. Morgan was savvy in 366 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 1: business and patented his invention not only in the US, 367 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,680 Speaker 1: but also in Canada and Britain, and then sold the 368 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: pat to General Electric for forty thousand dollars. Morgan has 369 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,919 Speaker 1: a pretty fantastic life story, so he might get an 370 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 1: episode all his own at some point. Yeah, there's a 371 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: whole story about him, unrelated to any of this traffic business, 372 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: really doing some heroic things and never getting credit because 373 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: he was a black man until much later in the game. 374 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: He also, just like I said, was mind blowingly smart, 375 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: which always fascinates me. Automatic timers developed in World War 376 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: One helped move traffic light technology forward once the war 377 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: was over, and while some efforts had been made in 378 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 1: automatic lights that required no policeman to manually flip switches, 379 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:37,399 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties, the technology rapidly became the rule 380 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,160 Speaker 1: rather than the exception. There were almost one hundred automatic 381 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:43,479 Speaker 1: lights in New York by nineteen twenty six, and that 382 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,120 Speaker 1: freed up literally thousands of police personnel that had been 383 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: standing in intersections to work on other vital rules. I 384 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 1: think I saw a statistic that of like three thousand 385 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: officers who routinely were positioned at traffic intersections, they were 386 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,720 Speaker 1: able to drop that back to five hundred that routinely 387 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,639 Speaker 1: kept doing it. By nineteen thirty, most US cities and 388 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,879 Speaker 1: towns had installed some sort of stop light system, and 389 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:09,679 Speaker 1: to some degree, they became emblems of progress and modernity, 390 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: while towns without them came to be regarded with a 391 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: measure of disdain. I would say that's still the case 392 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: for a lot of folks who grew up in places 393 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: that don't have them just because they're too small. Yep. 394 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: The pejorative use of the phrase one horse town came 395 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: to suggest the insignificant place, and that shifted over time 396 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: to the one stoplight town, although both continue to be used. 397 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: I feel like I hear one horse town more often, 398 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:39,399 Speaker 1: just personally, I use on one stoplight town more often, 399 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: Possibly because I grew up in one and was like, ugh, 400 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,440 Speaker 1: which is terrible. Don't talk that way about anybody's town. 401 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: Other people live there and love it. Maybe that's because 402 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: I grew up in a place that had more horses 403 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 1: than stop lights, which again was zero. Maybe international adoption 404 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: of traffic lights was a little slower, but in nineteen 405 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,159 Speaker 1: twenty two Paris installed It's for traffic light. At that 406 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: point it was only red, so it was like you 407 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: could either go or the red wood light up in 408 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: that meant stop. It didn't have the intermittent different messaging 409 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: or like proceed with caution. Berlin joined in with traffic 410 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: light installation in nineteen twenty four. It was almost nineteen 411 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: thirty before London really embraced street lights. There had been 412 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: a few that popped up here and there, but the 413 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: invention of the electric traffic signal offered a safer alternative 414 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: to the gas light system that had met its catastrophic 415 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,119 Speaker 1: end in the eighteen sixties, so they were a little 416 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,200 Speaker 1: more willing to adopt them again. And once the US 417 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:34,719 Speaker 1: had started to achieve a level of uniformity in its 418 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,119 Speaker 1: stop lights across the country, which happened kind of organically 419 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: in some ways, because people were noticing each other's designs 420 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: and kind of all working on improving everything together, and 421 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: once they kind of started to get pretty uniform, other 422 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: countries would just adopt the US models. Yeah, it's like 423 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 1: if you haven't traveled a ton in the US, it's like, 424 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:58,159 Speaker 1: the traffic lights aren't really identical from one state to another, 425 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: but they're similar in that you can make sense of them. Yeah, 426 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: you always know, like you're gonna see the lights stacked 427 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: pretty much in the same order. If it's a vertical 428 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: stop light, some are horizontally laid out. But yeah, you're 429 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: not going to like suddenly drive into another state and 430 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 1: be like, WHOA, I don't know what any of these 431 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: signals mean. Yeah, you're pretty uniforms as long as you 432 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: are not colorblind, which it is the color combination that's 433 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: not great in terms of colorblindness. As with the introduction 434 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: of any new technology, though, there was backlash to all 435 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,359 Speaker 1: these new lights. Detractors felt if a mechanism on the 436 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: road managed the flow of traffic, people would stop paying 437 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: attention to each other. They're also concerns that this would 438 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: lead to social isolation for motorists and even more concerning 439 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: that lack of connection would lead people to treat each 440 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: other with more impatience and less respect. It's like these 441 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: folks who were probably labeled as alarmists at the time 442 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: were pretty apprecient. Nobody had coined the term road rage 443 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: at that point. To combat these concerns, some auto clubs 444 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,679 Speaker 1: in the nineteen teens started sponsoring courtesy weeks, where motorists 445 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: were urged to treat other drivers as well as pedestrians, 446 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: with extra respect. I sort of love that, let's have 447 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: a week where we're extra extra nice. I think we 448 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: should have courtesy weeks for everything, But as a pedestrian, 449 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: the overwhelming amount at the time, I agree, Yeah, I mean, 450 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: and some of that too, I feel like, is just 451 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,159 Speaker 1: because like if you grow up like in a place, 452 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: or if you live in a place where there isn't 453 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,400 Speaker 1: much pedestrian traffic and then you move to somewhere where 454 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: there is, Like there have been times because growing up 455 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,119 Speaker 1: we didn't have a lot of pedestrian traffic in my 456 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,159 Speaker 1: town where I drew all the time, and then when 457 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 1: I was suddenly driving in a city, I was like, WHOA, 458 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: I got to watch for people. It's easy to not 459 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,919 Speaker 1: have flex that muscle and have to learn it at 460 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: a slightly slower ramp. Yeah, that's also true with bikes. 461 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,480 Speaker 1: If you've never driven a place underpot of bike traffic 462 00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:02,159 Speaker 1: and bike lanes, it's a totally different awareness, Like the 463 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: amount of time it takes a bike to get to 464 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: you versus the amount of time it takes a pedestrian 465 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,639 Speaker 1: to get to you, or just totally different. Yeah, And 466 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: there was another big concern in the midst of all 467 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,959 Speaker 1: of these traffic lights being adopted, particularly as they became automated, 468 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: was that if there was not a police officer present, 469 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,480 Speaker 1: people felt that most motorists would just disregard the lights anyway. 470 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,640 Speaker 1: That isn't entirely off base. Of course, in the modern era, 471 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: there have been cameras installed on a lot of stoplights. 472 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: They're not everywhere, but certainly there are many to combat 473 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,120 Speaker 1: this problem because that was a legitimate concern. People will 474 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: look around and run a light if there's not a 475 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: policeman present. Sometimes. Incidentally, if you ever played that game 476 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: red Light, Green Light when you were a kid, you 477 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: can thank Cleveland's education system. Maybe. The Smithsonian article from 478 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen mentions that a school teacher in Cleveland came 479 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,159 Speaker 1: up with a game in nineteen nineteen to help children 480 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,160 Speaker 1: learn and understand the new rules of the road as 481 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,600 Speaker 1: governed by traffic lights. Two thousand and eight obituary, The 482 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,199 Speaker 1: La Times credited children's TV host Bill Stula with inventing 483 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: the game as a way to get kids to drink 484 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: milk in the early nineteen fifties, so totally different purpose. 485 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: There are also variations of this game played around the world. Yeah, 486 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: I feel like we don't really know for sure what 487 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: the origins of La Green Light are, but I thought 488 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 1: it was worth a mention. So you may be wondering 489 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: what was the net benefit of the establishment of stoplights 490 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: and other safety measures, And if you look strictly at 491 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: the number of fatalities, it might seem like things got 492 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: worse instead of better. We mentioned earlier, for example, that 493 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: forty two hundred people died as a result of car 494 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: crashes in nineteen thirteen in the US, and in twenty 495 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: seventeen the number was forty two hundred thirty one. But 496 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: if you actually break it down in terms of numbers 497 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,399 Speaker 1: of fatalities, as that's related to the numbers of vehicles 498 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: on the road, that situation changes in a hurry. In 499 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, thirty three point three eight people died for 500 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 1: every ten thousand vehicles on the road. Death rate in 501 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen was one point four to seven per ten 502 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: thousand vehicles. Yeah, you have to adjust for population density there. 503 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: You can't just go with flat numbers. Yeah. Things did 504 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,439 Speaker 1: not immediately get better, though, they kind of got better, 505 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: and then they got a little bit worse. It took 506 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: time for various cities and towns to start adopting traffic 507 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,480 Speaker 1: lights into their roadways, and even longer, as we said, 508 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,360 Speaker 1: for there to be uniformity across those and other municipalities. 509 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: Things reach their absolute worst in terms of death statistics 510 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,400 Speaker 1: on roadways in nineteen thirty seven, but from that year 511 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: they have fallen pretty consistently. Yeah, and maybe a less 512 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: concretely quantifiable since there's also been a lot of discussion 513 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: lately about cities being built in a way that prioritizes 514 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: cars and what that means for everything from pollution to 515 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: pedestrians being able to get anywhere and whatnot. And you 516 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: could definitely look at that traffic lights and how they 517 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: were implemented as a piece of all of that. Yeah, 518 00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: and it is interesting, right, I mean, traffic lights are 519 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: not the only thing going on. People were like, hey, 520 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: we should have some signs and stuff like what if 521 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: wet belts. Yeah, there were there were some parallel developments 522 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: going on in different avenues of the traffic Safety Roadmap 523 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,359 Speaker 1: to really mix some metaphors up all crazy. Yeah, but 524 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,159 Speaker 1: traffic lights are one of those things. And I'm, like 525 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: I said, sort of fascinated when you think about it. Right, 526 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,600 Speaker 1: when I think about Daimler or Bins or Henry Ford, 527 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: I wonder if they could ever comprehend like the photos 528 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,400 Speaker 1: that you see of like a modern city at rush 529 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: hour and like what happened. It's an interesting thing. I 530 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: know there are a lot of cities that are also 531 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: kind of pushing to remove as many cars from the 532 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: road as possible, just in the interest of pollution and safety. 533 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: And I'll be fascinated to see what happens in the 534 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: next fifty years because cars are also evolving. Thanks so 535 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode 536 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: is out of the archive, if you heard an email 537 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: address or a Facebook RL or something similar over the 538 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: course of the show, that could be obsolete. Now. Our 539 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 1: current email address is history. 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