The only traffic light is located on the Sir Francis Drake Highway

More traffic lights are needed in the Territory to help regulate the controlled flow of traffic stressed Head of the Traffic Department, Kenrick Headley, who has since pinpointed locations where the lights are most needed.

“We have an increasing number of vehicles on the roadways and so we have to get mechanisms in place to control the situation,” stated Headley.

In light of this, last year Headley made recommendations to the Ministry of Communications and Works to have additional traffic lights.

Areas identified for proposed traffic lights to be installed were the roundabout in the vicinity of Shell Gas station, Road Town ; the Colombian Emerald junction and the old Clarence Thomas junction.

If these recommendations are not feasible, the Inspector of Traffic is then suggesting that the road network needs to be redesigned to accommodate the amount of vehicular traffic.

However, Communications and Works Permanent Secretary (ag) John Samuel told this newspaper traffic lights, “is the direction we [Ministry] are prepared to go and we are basically preparing field work to establish priority areas.”

“There is the need for regulation devices in certain areas,” he added. To set the project in motion, the Permanent Secretary disclosed research will done on counting of movements to determine where and what types of devices could be used.

Asked when this fieldwork will begin, Samuel replied, “We expect to see some action in 2008.”  

The invention of the traffic light 

Even during the horse and buggy days, traffic in big cities was often heavy. Police officers had to be stationed full time directing traffic at busy intersections.

The world’s first traffic light came into being before the automobile was in use, and traffic consisted only of pedestrians, buggies, and wagons.  Installed at an intersection in London in 1868, it was a revolving lantern with red and green signals.  Red meant “stop” and green meant “caution.”  On January 2, 1869, this crude traffic light exploded, injuring the policeman who was operating it.

With the coming of automobiles, the situation got even worse. Police Officer William L.  Potts of Detroit, Michigan, decided to do something about the problem.  What he had in mind was figuring out a way to adapt railroad signals for street use. 

The railroads were already utilising automatic controls. But railroad traffic travelled along parallel lines.  Street traffic travelled at right angles. 

Potts used red, amber, and green railroad lights and about thirty-seven dollars worth of wire and electrical controls to make the world’s first 4-way three colour traffic light. It was installed in 1920 on the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit . 

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