In fact, traffic lights were not a control method applied to automobiles before. Traffic light used to mean the control of trains on railways. In other words, we can say that the origin of this application is railways.
Okay, we learned the first use of traffic lights. Now we will go to the root of why red means stop, yellow means warning, and green means late.
The reason why the red color in the traffic lights tells us to stop: Red; symbol of blood, death and harm.
It was the railway administration that chose the color red to mean stop. Red throughout history; The negative meanings of death, harm, loss, brutality and danger made them choose this color. How insignificant…
In fact, the green color used to mean the warning, now expressed by the yellow light.
Light, meaning late on the railways of the 1830s, was white. They used the color green as a warning. The reason why the usage areas of colors have changed today was that white light was mixed with the lights of other street lamps and perceived differently. For this reason, drivers could misunderstand the signals that the traffic light wanted to give and cause an accident by passing where they were going to stop or by stopping where they were going to pass.
The yellow light was successful in attracting the attention of the drivers.
The final decision of the railways in the regulation of the traffic lights; yellow means warning, green means late and red means stop. The reason why yellow is used for warning comes from the fact that yellow is an eye-catching and vibrant color. Moreover, this color evokes a sense of attention in drivers. In other words, a driver who sees the yellow light understands that he needs to shake himself up and take control of the vehicle.
The first electric automatic traffic lights in use today, similar to a traffic light, were produced by Garrett Morgan, a US car owner. Now that these lamps are being used all over the world, everyone has started to adopt the yellow light as a warning.
Of course, let’s not forget that traffic is still a problem in our world where the population is gone and everyone whose economic situation permits has started to use small vehicles. People can try to pass even on green, let alone the yellow light. In short, the problem of detecting traffic lights from the past to the present has not been fully resolved.
Sources: Popular Science, Quora, Mental Floss, WIRED, CodePen
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