5th August – Day of international traffic lights!

 August 5 is celebrated as "International Traffic Light Day" in honor of the first electric traffic light, which appeared in USA in 1914. This device had red and green lights and made sounds when the colors changed. The first traffic light in the world was installed on December 10, 1868, in London, near the British Parliament. More details about the first traffic lights are in the report.

It was invented by railway semaphore expert John Peak Knight and used two indicators—green and red—that were controlled manually. These indicators were raised and lowered to manage pedestrian traffic. Initially lit with gas lanterns, the traffic lights were designed to be visible at night. Later, similar traffic lights were installed in other European cities.

In 1869, a gas lantern exploded at a traffic light in London, injuring the policeman managing it. Following this incident, Europe banned the use of gas lanterns in traffic lights, halting their installation for 50 years. In 1910, Chicago resident invented an automatic traffic light with two signals: Stop and Proceed. This traffic light had indicators similar to those in London.

On August 5, 1914, four electric traffic lights were installed at an intersection in Cleveland, USA. The inventor, James Hogg, created this traffic light in two colors: red and green. A policeman controlled the lights from a special booth. When the light was red, turning right was allowed without disrupting traffic.