Traffic light: colors in order, description and meaning

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Today everyone understands what a traffic light is. Colors: red, yellow and green - familiar even to a child.

However, there was a time when these optical devices did not exist, and it was not very easy to cross the street. Especially in big cities, passers-by had to pass endless horse-drawn carts for a long time.

There was confusion and endless arguments on the cross streets.

A little digression into history

Initially, the traffic light was invented by the British. It was staged in London at the end of 68 of the 19th century. It was run by a man. The mechanism had two arrows. When they were in a horizontal position, movement was prohibited, and when lowered, passage was allowed. At night, a gas burner was turned on, with the help of which a red and green signal was given. It turned out to be unsafe. The gas exploded, injured a policeman, the traffic light was removed.

Only at the beginning of the twentieth century, an automatic traffic light was patented in America. Colors were not used in it, their inscriptions replaced them.

But the first traffic light, which looks like a modern one, was developed in 1914 in the same America. The first luminous traffic light was installed in Cleveland, there were only two colors: red andgreen. And in 1920, a third one was added to these two colors - yellow.

In the Soviet Union, the first traffic light was installed in Leningrad in 1930, and a little later - in Moscow, but the arrangement of colors was reversed. The top was green and the bottom red. Only in 1959 in our country, traffic lights began to look like all over the world. This is how they look to this day.

Today, in any city, traffic lights are a common occurrence, without which movement is not possible.

Principles of operation of modern traffic lights

The traffic light is designed to regulate the movement of vehicles and is a lighting device installed in a certain place with successive switching of light signals of certain colors.

The traffic light is controlled by a specially designed automated program. In cities, these programs are global. They are carefully designed. Such programs control several traffic lights at once, and to optimize the movement, software is developed for each time of day separately.

Where traffic lights are usually placed

In all densely populated cities today, the traffic controller is a traffic light. The colors are switched in order and thus adjust the movement.

Be sure to install them at the intersections of equivalent roads, at pedestrian crossings with a large crowd of people, near educational institutions and in other places where additionalregulation.

In large cities, traffic lights are installed on almost any highway at bus and tram stops, near metro stations.

Traffic light red

Everyone knows that red is an aggressive, exciting, flashy color. It means danger. At a traffic light, red is prohibited. Even in kindergarten, children are taught: "Red - no movement."

For road users, a red traffic light indicates that driving beyond the stop line is prohibited. All cars, without exception, must unquestioningly adhere to this rule. For the passage of an intersection at a prohibiting traffic signal, the rules of the road provide for pen alties. These fines are quite large and well-deserved, because running a red light can be very dangerous. It is because of irresponsible drivers at traffic lights and intersections that sometimes the most terrible accidents occur.

Red color is very visible in any weather: when the sun is shining brightly, it is raining, or there is fog. From a physical point of view, red has the maximum wavelength. Perhaps that is why it was chosen as forbidden. All over the world, the meaning of red is the same.

Traffic light green

Another traffic light is green. This is the color of calmness, peace. It has a relaxing effect on the human brain. The traffic light is green for traffic. You can see it far enough, any driver sees this color long before the traffic light passes and calmly, notbraking, overcomes the intersection.

However, as they say, there is an unspoken rule according to which it is still worth slowing down when driving through a dangerous intersection, even when the traffic light is green. This action often helps to avoid serious accidents.

Yellow - pay attention

Yellow traffic light is intermediate. It has a warning function and encourages road users to pay attention. It is said that yellow symbolizes the mind, intuition and ingenuity. It usually lights up after red, urging drivers to prepare for movement. As practice shows, many drivers perceive the yellow signal of a traffic light as permissive and start moving. This is wrong, although it is not punishable by pen alties. When the yellow color lights up, you need to squeeze the clutch, get ready, but to start moving, it’s better to wait for the green one, especially since you only have to wait a couple of seconds.

In reverse order: green, yellow, red - the traffic light is not working. In modern devices, after green, red immediately lights up, while in the last minutes the green starts flashing.

You can also sometimes see a continuously flashing yellow traffic light. This indicates that the traffic light is disabled or broken. Most often, traffic lights flash yellow at night.

Pedestrian traffic light

There is also a traffic light to regulate pedestrian traffic. What colors does it use?Red and green - definitely, but yellow is missing as unnecessary. A person does not need special preparation to cross the road.

People are usually depicted walking at pedestrian traffic lights. For the convenience of pedestrians, a time counter has recently been used. A special stopwatch counts how many seconds are left before the opposite signal turns on.

Like regular traffic lights, red indicates traffic is prohibited, while green indicates that the passage is open.

When driving through an intersection, drivers should be aware that pedestrians are taking advantage. So, for example, at an intersection, a car turns right at a green traffic light, while pedestrians crossing a perpendicular road also turn green. In this case, the motorist must give way to all pedestrians and only then continue driving.

What is the "green wave"

In large metropolitan areas, motorway traffic is accompanied by a large number of traffic lights that regulate traffic. The traffic light, the colors of which are known to everyone, switches them at a certain frequency. This frequency is automatically adjusted and ensures the safety of vehicles.

"Green wave" is tied to the speed of the car. It is assumed that, moving at a certain average speed, the driver, hitting the green traffic light, will also get green along the entire length of the highway. Three colors of the traffic light switch at a certain frequency, and between a number of traffic lightsthere is agreement. At all intersections of the route, coordinated according to this principle, there is the same cyclicity.

The "Green Wave" was developed for the convenience of crossing intersections, technically it is not difficult to implement. As a rule, signs are additionally installed on such highways with the recommended speed, which will ensure non-stop passage of intersections.

Assistant driver and pedestrian is a three-eyed traffic light. The colors switch in order and adjust the ride, ensuring the safety of all road users. By following the rules of crossings in good faith, you can avoid serious accidents and unpleasant situations on the roads.