The First Traffic Light

The first traffic light was installed in

• 1814 in Paris

• 1868 in London

• 1862 in New York.

The lights were

• gas-powered

• electricity-powered

• wind-powered

The first electric traffic lights were operated manually from a

• in the street

• from police stations

• from a control booth

A traffic light is most commonly a(n) ____________ system.

• adaptive

• timer-based

• sensor-based

Traffic engineers adjust the timing based on __________.

• size of the road

• speed of the vehicles

• number of vehicles

Yellow lights need to last _________ on faster roadways.

• shorter

• longer

Actuated signals can ____________ and use that information to make real-time    decisions about light timing and sequence.

• send information to sensors

• receive information from sensors

• detect sensors in vehicles

The sensors feed data to a computer that chooses the timing of the light     changes in order to ____________.

• make the traffic safe

• boost the speed of the traffic

• ease the traffic flow

With self-driving cars becoming ever more popular _____________   .

• the need for traffic lights might be completely eliminated

• we need more actuated signals

• traffic engineers must develop intelligent sensors for traffic lights