In old editions of 'Uncle Styopa' with illustrations by Aminadav Kanevsky, the traffic light looks unfamiliar today: the red signal is at the bottom, and the green is at the top. For a modern reader, such a picture might seem like an artist's mistake.
But Kanevsky depicted everything correctly. This exact signal order was used at Soviet intersections for almost three decades. When the arrangement of the lights was changed, the illustrations for subsequent editions had to be redone.
The history of Soviet traffic lights did not begin with the familiar vertical block of three lamps. Leningrad became the first city in the country where a traffic light appeared: this happened in 1930 at the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt and Liteyny Prospekt.
Moscow received its own traffic light at the end of the same year. It was installed on Petrovka, near Kuznetsky Most. The Moscow design did not resemble a modern traffic light cabinet at all and looked more like a clock.
The dial was divided into four colored sectors:
- green was at the top;
- red was at the bottom;
- two yellow sectors were on the sides;
- an arrow moved around them at a constant speed.
Later, these dials with arrows were replaced by American-style traffic lights, which used three separate lights. However, even then, the order familiar to us was not yet in place.
In Moscow, the permissive signal was left at the top, above the red. Moreover, in some cases, blue light was used instead of green. There was no single standard even between the two main cities of the country: in Leningrad, the green signal was at the bottom.
Where the railway order came from
The origins of red and green signals on the streets should be sought on the railway. The first street traffic light appeared in London in 1868 near the Parliament building. It was created by John Knight, who had previously worked with railway semaphores.
During the day, the structure used rotating semaphore arms. After dark, a gas lantern was lit on the pole and then rotated to alternately show red and green light. The railway semaphore had a very specific logic. An open track was indicated by a wing raised at an angle, and a closed track by a horizontally lowered one. In other words, the prohibitive signal was physically lower than the permissive one.
Electric traffic lights, which replaced mechanical semaphores, retained this scheme. Therefore, on the railway, green is still located above red. This arrangement is also convenient from the point of view of the train driver. The lower light is better visible from the cab, while the one located higher up can be lost in the rays in bright sunlight.
Why red ended up at the top on the road
For a motorist, the situation is somewhat different. Like a train driver, they need to see the prohibitive signal as early as possible, but the visibility conditions on the road are different. The top light appears in the field of vision first when the car climbs to the top of a rise. In addition, it is harder for a bus or truck moving ahead to block it.
The cost of an error in late signal recognition varies. If the driver sees green too late, they will only lose a second before starting to move. If they notice red too late, there may not be enough time for a safe stop. Therefore, the most prominent top position was given to red. The same principle is used in horizontally arranged traffic lights. The red signal is installed closer to the center of the road. In Russia, this is the left side.
In Japan, where cars drive on the left side of the road, the arrangement is mirrored: red is on the right, and green is on the left. There is another reason for strict adherence to the order. 5 to 9% of men have difficulty distinguishing between red and green colors. In the USA alone, there are about 13 million such people. For them, the position of the signal becomes an additional hint:
- the top light means stop;
- the bottom allows movement.
But such a system only helps if the color arrangement is constant. Therefore, in Quebec, Canada, where traffic lights are installed horizontally, they went further and distinguished signals by shape as well. Green remained round, yellow was made diamond-shaped, and red was square. At some intersections, there were two red squares – one on each side.
How a single standard emerged
In the United States in the 1920s, there was no single order for signal arrangement. Each manufacturer could choose their own scheme.
One common option in small towns was the suspended 'Darley' company traffic light. It was a four-sided casing, inside which there was only one lamp at each level. The top light source was simultaneously visible in all directions. Therefore, from the main street, it was covered with red glass, and for the cross street, with green. The bottom lamp worked in reverse.
As a result, two drivers at the same intersection could see different signals. The one moving on the main road saw red at the top, while the one approaching from the side street saw red at the bottom. This scheme had an important advantage: instead of 12 lamps, only three were needed. The switching mechanism was placed directly in the lower part of the structure, so a separate control cabinet at the intersection was not required.
The cost of installing such a traffic light for the city was more than twice lower. Therefore, the design was produced in thousands, and in some American cities, similar traffic lights remained on the streets until the 1960s. American urban engineers recommended placing the red signal at the top as early as 1927. However, a mandatory single order became effective only in the 1950s.
The international standard appeared earlier. In 1949, at a conference in Geneva, a protocol on road signs and signals was adopted, establishing a common order.
The USSR did not sign the protocol then and joined it only ten years later. In 1959, Soviet traffic lights began to be inverted, and in the same year, unified traffic rules appeared in the country for the first time. Today, the same principle is enshrined in the Vienna Convention. If the signals are arranged vertically, red must be at the top, yellow between red and green, and green at the bottom.
Where green is still at the top
There is an intersection in the USA that became an exception to the general rule. It is located in the Tipperary Hill neighborhood in Syracuse, New York. As early as the 19th century, this area was settled by immigrants from Ireland. In 1925, a typical traffic light for that time was installed at the main intersection of the neighborhood: red signal at the top, green at the bottom.
Residents perceived such a design as an insult. They associated red with Great Britain and green with Ireland. Teenagers aged 11 to 17 began throwing stones at the red glass. In the neighborhood itself, these stones were called 'Irish confetti'. Broken glass was replaced, but it was destroyed again.
The city council member from this district, John Ryan, eventually convinced the city authorities to install the traffic light in reverse – with green at the top. However, the state intervened and demanded the standard scheme be restored, as the inverted traffic light could confuse drivers who do not distinguish colors.
The traffic light was installed correctly again, after which the story of broken red glass continued. Finally, on St. Patrick's Day 1928, a city official met with residents. Hearing that they intended to continue their actions, the city authorities conceded.
Since then, this intersection remains the only place in the USA where the green signal is located above the red. However, no documentary evidence of the events of the 1920s has been found. The story has been preserved through the accounts of old-timers.
In 1997, a small square was laid out on the site of the building that previously stood next to the intersection. A sculpture of an Irish family was installed there: the father points to the unusual traffic light to his loved ones, and a slingshot sticks out of the son's back pocket.
One of the teenagers of that time, Patrick Corbett, later became the county sheriff. However, he never admitted his involvement in breaking the red glass. The tradition, meanwhile, continues. On the eve of every St. Patrick's Day, someone draws a green shamrock under the unusual traffic light.