John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 08.05.2022 09:Aug AM EDT

The World's First Electric Traffic Signals Were Installed in Cleveland on This Day in 1914

Electric traffic signals are one of the most useful ways to ensure everyone is safe on the road and is following traffic rules. Without them, going through intersections, rotundas, and even crossing the street as a pedestrian will be difficult due to the resulting confusion, even with the traffic enforcers ensuring the right of way is respected.

However, this was the reality for Americans in the 1910s, and only when electric traffic signals were installed was some order restored.

Here is the story behind the installation of the first traffic light:

The First Electric Traffic Light - A Quick Background And Summary

The 1910s were a time of confusion if you were trying to navigate the streets with the first cars. According to History, the first motorists had to share the road with horse-drawn carriages. If you're familiar with Rockstar Games' hit 2010 action-adventure Western game, Red Dead Redemption, you know how it feels to have carriages on roads with the first cars.

In addition to cluttered roads, there were little to no traffic signs guiding motorists and carriage drivers alike. Back then, motorists had to make do with center-painted dividing lines and the first of many "No Left Turn" signs.

There was still no definite way of telling who gets to cross intersections first, even with left-hand driving being the standard at the time. As such, arguments were common about who had the right of way.

Pedestrians are the first to suffer in a world without electric traffic lights as it would be next to impossible to cross the street without incurring some kind of injury, per the StoneAcre Motor Group.

Then in 1912, a police officer named Lester Farnsworth Wire from Salt Lake City, Utah developed the first electric traffic light system consisting of a wooden box with two light bulbs mounted on a wooden pole.

One of the bulbs was dipped in green paint while the other was dipped in red. The wooden box was then connected to the overhead wire used for the trolleybus, allowing a police officer to switch the lights without being underneath it compared to the gas lights used in the 1860s.

Wire's invention also has a buzzer to warn motorists that the light will soon change, allowing them to stop safely before a red light is switched on.

Although Wire's invention was revolutionary and much needed, it wasn't until 1914 that it was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, by the American Traffic Signal Company on the corner of E. 105th Street and Euclid Avenue, per the Cleveland Police Museum.

Improvements Done To The Traffic Light

While Wire's two-light electric traffic light was a success, it still has its problems. The buzzer eventually became insufficient to warn people to stop their cars before the light turned red as time went on.

Then, an African American inventor by the name of Garrett Augustus Morgan saw a severe car accident at an intersection in Cleveland, Ohio because of the buzzer's insufficiency.

He would later invent an electric traffic light that had three lights housed within the box - the original red and green lights and a yellow light warn motorists to yield the road to other motorists and warn them to stop their vehicles to do so.

Morgan's three-light traffic system was one of the first of its kind that was invented, thanks to his invention, three-light traffic lights were widely adopted and eventually became the traffic we take for granted today.