Shepherdstown doesn\u2019t have a traffic light. There are a couple outside of town, but none in Shepherdstown itself. When we moved here from Northern Virginia, there were traffic lights everywhere and any time you went any where, you had to factor in the amount of time you\u2019d be waiting at traffic lights.<\/p>\n
When the\u00a0 town I grew up in (Maysville) was thriving, it was almost a big as Shepherdstown, and they actually installed a traffic light. It was only there for a few months \u2014 the residents just couldn\u2019t handle all the new technology and the hassle of only being able to go when some light said it was ok. The light in Maysville only had red and green lights. It hung in the middle of the only \u201cbusy\u201d intersection in town and had two bulbs. When the top bulb was lit the light showed red in two directions and green in two directions. When the light \u201cchanged\u201d the other bulb on the bottom came on and then the red and green directions were reversed. There was no warning \u2014 it just changed.<\/p>\n
The invention of the traffic signal is attributed to Lester Wire, a Detroit policeman in 1912. His light was a two-color, red-and-green light with a buzzer to warn pedestrians ahead of the impending transition. Apparently Maysville had one of Lester Wire\u2019s lights \u2014 but without the buzzer. Wire\u2019s basic design was modified by another policeman, Williams Potts, to include the three colors (red, amber and green) used in lights today. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shepherdstown doesn\u2019t have a traffic light. There are a couple outside of town, but none in Shepherdstown itself. When we moved here from Northern Virginia, there were traffic lights everywhere and any time you went any where, you had to … Continue reading
\nOf course Maysville never could get past the two colors \u2014 goodness knows how they would have reacted to a traffic light with three<\/em> colors\u2026.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n