Traffic Light Systems

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London, in 1868, became the first city in the world to install and enjoy the services of the world’s maiden traffic light (This Day in History, 2011). This traffic light was established by a legendary railway engineer by the name John Peak Knight but the actual construction work was done by Saxby & Farmer Railway Signal Engineers. This traffic light control system was placed at the intersection of Gorge and Bridge Street (This Day in History, 2011). Physically, the traffic light was 22 feet tall and had arms that were extended horizontally and lowered at an angle (Vaunt Design Group, 2006). Fortunately or unfortunately, the traffic light was not automatically controlled. Therefore, it had to be controlled manually by a police officer (This Day in History, 2011). Its operation involved outstretching the light’s arms horizontally and lowering it at an angle of 450 (Vaunt Design Group, 2006). This was achieved by use of a lever. The horizontal outstretch of the traffic light’s arm meant that the motorists should stop whereas lowering of the same arms at an angle of 450 meant that the motorists ought to move, though with caution. The device was powered by gas at night in order to flash lights (Vaunt Design Group, 2006). It flashed only two colors which were red and green. Red light told motorists to stop while green lights told motorists to keep moving. (Pollard 97). At night, this traffic light was powered by gas and the lantern would give an appropriate reflection accordingly as the lever would be turned to face traffic.
The unfortunate thing about the first traffic light control was that it was short lived and a year later after it was installed it exploded killing the police officer in charge of its control at that moment of explo...

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...ly on some modifications. For example, Potts’ design has been outstanding all through the times and modern systems have only been in position to incorporate modern technology on what Potts initiated (Badon, 2010). Modern systems are automated and use electrical energy. There are some places where the electrical energy is integrated to incorporate both the green energy and the other form of energy. In addition to this, modern systems differ from those of the past in the sense that they use automatic timers and hence are not manual in any way (Badon, 2010). The automation is even made better by use of motion sensors (Badon, 2010). As the old designs used lamp lights, modern designs use advanced diode lights to do the flashing (Badon, 2010). Technology is still growing and more is yet to come. For example, pilot programs are in place testing use of infra-red lights.

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