when was the first manual traffic signal invented
Traffic light The world's first traffic light was short lived. It was a manually operated gas-lit signal installed in London in December 1868. It exploded less than a month after it was implemented, injuring[2] its policeman operator. Traffic control started to seem necessary in the late 1890s and Earnest Sirrine from Chicago patented the first automated traffic control system in 1910. It used the words "STOP" and "PROCEED", although neither word lit up.[3]