TRAFFIC LIGHT INVENTOR

John Peake Knight was a railway engineer and inventor, credited with inventing the first traffic
light. He was born on 13 December 1828 (Eighteen, twenty eight) in Nottingham, England. He
left school at 12 to work in a railway station.
Peake Knight was promoted quickly to Traffic Manager at the age of 20 for the London to
Brighton Line. During this time, he would be credited with many innovations that made travel by
rail safer and more enjoyable.
Spending time in London allowed Knight to see the disasters of massive traffic on the roads and
he decided to do something about it. The first of these lights would be installed near the Houses
of Parliament in London in 1868 (Eighteen, sixty eight).
HOW IT WORKS
It is not like the traffic light we use today, the invention by Knight had only two lights: one red
and one green. The lights were gas powered and only intended for use at night.
During the day, traffic flow was to be controlled by two semaphore arms. The premise was
simple: If the flag arm was horizontal, it meant stop. If it was at a 45-degree angle, traffic should
go.
At night, it was even easier, a red light meant stop, and a green one meant go. The entire
system was controlled by a series of hand-operated levers under the control of a traffic officer.
They still had the traffic officer because people felt traffic would simply ignore the new system.
The officer was responsible for keeping a close eye on the flow of traffic and control of the
system.
The traffic light had a bad start. After the first one was installed, it exploded, killing the traffic
officer. For the next 30 years, the concept was drop. Despite this, an idea was born and made a
difference in the world.