World's First Electric Traffic Signal Installation Day

Today we completed 105 years that the first electric traffic signal system was installed. It was first mounted on August 5, 1914, on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. It was designed by James Hoge and patented in 1918.

The first traffic signal comprised of four pairs of red and green lights that served as stop-go indicators, each mounted on a corner post. It was wired to a manually operated switch inside a nearby control booth, and the system was designed in a way making conflicting signals impossible.

Various competing claims exist who was behind the world's first traffic signal.

1868 – London, device installed featured two semaphore arms that extended horizontally to signal 'stop' and at a 45-degree angle to signal 'caution.

1912 – Utah, Salt Lake City. One Lester Wire, a policeman, mounted a handmade wooden box with coloured red and green lights on a pole with wires attached to overhead trolley and light wires.

1923 - Garrett Morgan invented the traffic signal based on his T-shaped design which was patented in 1923 and later sold to General Electric.