stackyFACTS
Transport

When traffic lights needed a police officer to operate them

HERE’S THE INTERESTING PART

Before motorized switches effortlessly took over, some poor miserable soul had to stand in a tiny wooden booth yanking heavy metal levers all day long just to successfully stop horse carriages from smashing into each other. It was the ultimate tedious municipal role.

From the Stacky collection1 min read
When traffic lights needed a police officer to operate them
STACKY / Transport
Topics in this facttrafficrailway signalssignals
One discovery leads to another.

Keep exploring facts in this topic.

Transport →
STACKY FOR IPHONE

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.

Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.

Download on the App Store
ONE MORE DISCOVERY?

Keep exploring

All in this topic →
Why car turn signals rarely blink together
Transport

Why car turn signals rarely blink together

If you sit at a red light and watch the blinkers of the cars ahead, they will almost never sync up. It is a maddening, chaotic light show that serves as a…

Discover more
Paris once endured a 109-mile traffic jam
Transport

Paris once endured a 109-mile traffic jam

Combining thousands of vacationing French motorists with a sudden, localized winter storm results in a historical transportation collapse. In February 1980,…

Discover more
Chinese National Highway 110 experienced a traffic jam in 2010 that lasted for 12 agonizing days and stretched for 62 miles, moving at a blistering pace of two miles per day.
Transport

Chinese National Highway 110 experienced a traffic jam in 2010 that lasted for 12 agonizing days and stretched for 62 miles, moving at a blistering pace of two miles per day.

Chinese National Highway 110 experienced a traffic jam in 2010 that lasted for 12 agonizing days and stretched for 62 miles, moving at a blistering pace of…

Discover more
Drive-up window lanes trap idle vehicles in endless lines
Transport

Drive-up window lanes trap idle vehicles in endless lines

What was once hailed as the peak of automotive convenience has turned into a slow-moving parade of idling machines, trapping drivers in concrete corridors…

Discover more
Sao Paulo, Brazil, holds the record for some of the world's worst traffic jams, with a historic gridlock on November 15, 2013, stretching an apocalyptic 192 miles.
Transport

Sao Paulo, Brazil, holds the record for some of the world's worst traffic jams, with a historic gridlock on November 15, 2013, stretching an apocalyptic 192 miles.

Sao Paulo, Brazil, holds the record for some of the world's worst traffic jams, with a historic gridlock on November 15, 2013, stretching an apocalyptic 192…

Discover more
Traffic signals rely on pure conditioning
Transport

Traffic signals rely on pure conditioning

Society collectively agrees that a suspended glowing orb changing color is a perfectly logical reason to completely halt thousands of pounds of momentum.

Discover more
StackyMore discoveries in the app
Download on the App Store