Use Of English Test 4 – Traffic Lights

The first traffic signal was invented by a railway signaling engineer. It was installed outsideoutout ofoutdoors the Houses of Parliament in 1868. It resembledseemedshowedlooked like any railway signal of the time, and was operated by gas. HoweverDespiteAlthoughTherefore, it exploded and killed a policeman, and the accident disappointedforbadediscouragedavoided further development until cars became common.

ModernNewRecentLate traffic lights are an American invention. Red-green systemsmeansmethodsways were installed in Cleveland in 1914. Three-color signals, operated throughinwithby hand from a tower in the focushalfwayheartmiddle of the street, were installed in New York in 1918. The originalprimaryfirstearly lights of this type to happenappearbecomeshow in Britain were in London, on the junction between St. James’s Street and Piccadilly, in 1925. Automatic signals were installed in thetheain a year later.

In the past, traffic lights were rarespecialparticularvarious. In New York, some lights had a statue on top. In Los Angeles the lights did not just altermovevarychange silently, but would ring bells to get uprisewakeraise the sleeping motorists of the 1930s. These are gone and have been reproducedremainedremovedreplaced by standard models which are universally adopted.