#firstelectrictrafficsignal

[amhikolhapurkar-blog]

The world’s #firstelectrictrafficsignal is put into place on the corner of #EuclidAvenue and East 105th Street in #Cleveland, #Ohio, today in 1914. In the earliest days of the #automobile, navigating America’s roads was a chaotic experience, with pedestrians, bicycles, horses and streetcars all competing with #motorvehicles for right of way. The problem was alleviated somewhat with the gradual disappearance of #horsedrawncarriages , but even before #WorldWarI it had become clear that a system of regulations was necessary to keep #traffic moving and reduce the number of #accidents on the roads. As #ChristopherFinch writes in his “Highways to Heaven: The AUTO Biography of America” (1992), the first traffic island was put into use in San Francisco, California in 1907; #lefthanddrive became #standard in #AmericanCars in 1908; the first #centerpainted #dividingline appeared in 1911, in Michigan; and the first #NoLeftTurn sign would debut in Buffalo, New York, in 1916.