1953 on the southeast corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds, and Figueroa St. and Sunset Blvd

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1425688885785632&set=a.181986760155857

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1133363408351516&set=a.181986760155857

when they wanted a car to WHOA, they really meant it

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/682

I almost made it the whole day without posting cartoon art, until I saw this - and it ties in with last weeks "dummy light" post, and the evolution from police operated traffic signals in the middle of intersections, to stop lights

I think it was worth it, Donald on a scooter, Pluto pulling a dog cart! 

it turns out they didn't avoid repeating the titles of cartoons, they reused Officer Duck more than once

Skip the first 30 seconds

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x620x4k

https://disneyanaplus.com/vare/officer-duck-complete-set-of-original-published-disney-art-from-1940/

have you heard of "dummy lights" ? Pedestal-mounted traffic signals in the center of intersections that replaced the cops that had been directing traffic when there were very few vehicles and a lot more horse wagons. There are less than a handful existing in the USA

On November 11th, 2021, a Western Express tractor-trailer crashed into the historic Canajoharie Dummy Light, because instead of driving straight through the intersection and making a turn at the next block....  the trucker made the idiot error of smashing into the traffic light 

before the dummy light

This was a watering trough for horses, with a plaque installed by the daughters of the revolution, commemorating a revolutionary war fort

the dummy light in Canajoharie, New York above, is just South of the Erie Canal, it is the headquarters of the Beech Nut Baby Food Company and stone for the Brooklyn Bridge was quarried there.

example of when police stood in the intersection and operated the signal switches 

there was one in Scituate Mass until around 1996, that's when this photo was taken of the intersection of Henry Turner Bailey Rd and Country Way

There are still at least three dummy lights surviving in New York State. Besides Croton-on-Hudson there are operating dummy lights in Beacon and upstate in Canajoharie.

and besides the 3 in New York state, there is one in Smackover Arkansas 

The first traffic signal was installed in 1868 in London, in the middle of an intersection to direct horse carriages  https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-traffic-signal-originated-in-london.html

I had forgotten this one that I posted 2 years ago  https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/03/wow-thats-sturdy-traffic-light-of.html

on the far left, that's a small pole, but new to me, I don't remember seeing that before. This is in Minneapolis, between Marquette and Nicollet on 9th

and stop signs in Portland were once speedbumps 

In Philly in 1922 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/02/1922-philly.html 

There are few interesting and unusual traffic lights in the USA, and this is the 1st time I've heard of these Dummy Lights by that name.  But the one traffic light that sticks out in my memory, is the one that is green on top  https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-legend-of-traffic-light-at.html

https://www.eldiario24.com/en/americas-mysterious-traffic-signal/24938/

https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheDummyLight/

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9837481819621447&set=gm.10002553983136035&idorvanity=751191438272382

https://www.facebook.com/groups/751191438272382

https://www.crotonfriendsofhistory.org/dummy-forever

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/613/

A “super speeder” with 29 red light and school zone speed camera tickets on her record, sped through a red light in Midwood, Brooklyn in April 2025, killing a mother and her two young daughters in the crosswalk

the top 10 super speeders – New Yorkers with the most school zone speed camera violations in New York State, many with hundreds more than the average driver – and the locations where they most frequently endanger New Yorkers’ lives. These most reckless drivers frequent a single borough

In 2024, the top 10 super speeders in New York State each received an average of 271 school zone speed camera tickets, with the most reckless driver receiving 563 and the tenth most reckless driver receiving 160.

The #1 top super speeder received more than 560 school zone speed camera tickets last year — at least one every 16 hours

Fines are not enough for these super speeders. Of the top 10, three have paid off all or significant portions of all of their fines, ranging from $17,000-$45,000 each, a total of more than $108,000. The other seven have paid off little or none, and owe, on average, $28,000 each — a total of $200,000.

70% of the 10 super speeders are driving brand-new cars purchased in the past two years, and include a 2023 Audi A6 and 2022 Land Rover Range Rover. Vehicles with the majority of their fines unpaid include a 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class, a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica, and a 2023 Chevrolet Suburban.

https://transalt.org/reports-list/yn29thckywv9n0qpsv4jb1ab07nryp

https://nypost.com/2025/11/12/us-news/inside-speed-limiter-tech-that-would-force-bad-drivers-to-slow-down-under-state-bill-can-save-lives/

Now tell me why New York doesn't just put a cop on any one of those intersections, or, take some legal action on these drivers, like, revoke their drivers license, then impound their vehicles? 

government inefficiency in action, it took 10 months and 2.4 million dollars to activate a single stop light in Fresno

 According to a new report from Streets Are For Everyone, from 2021 to 2023, intersection violations in Fresno County led to 55 deaths and 153 serious injuries. that’s 18 people killed and 51 badly hurt each year, giving the county the dubious distinction of leading California’s larger counties in red-light and intersection crashes 

So in 2018 plans began for a new traffic light at the intersection of Fowler and Olive in Fresno County.

The county was behind the idea, but the light sat on the edge of city limits, and was built to meet city regulations

Add to the complication of those two government entities trying to work out the details to the work of purchasing the land, securing rights of way, buying equipment, etc

 

Once the signal was installed, it still took nearly ten months before the city could finally switch on the light.

A traffic light installation just a mile and a half away took only three months from ground-marking to activation, because that project fell entirely within city limits and was managed by a private homebuilder.

https://www.carscoops.com/2025/10/10-months-and-2-4-million-later-fresno-turns-on-traffic-signal/

lol... this is a clever way to get your message of anger out there

https://are2.tumblr.com

back when I was in the Navy, and a world traveler, one of the things that delighted me about looking around in other countries was that they had unique things, that are ordinary there, but NEVER seen in the USA, like traffic signs warning of monkeys crossing the roads

https://sidecarinjapan.blogspot.com/2023/05/back-in-beautiful-mountains.html

Garrett Morgan, invented the first widely used and easy to manufacture gas mask, and an early caution alarm between GO and STOP on a traffic signal! That's a lot of awesome, for one inventor!

One of his most famous inventions is a breathing device to protect firefighters. Called the Morgan Safety Hood, it was a precursor to the modern gas mask, which he improved upon over the next 2 years and in 1914 receive a patent. 

Garrett Morgan's safety hood was used in World War I and to save workers in a collapsed tunnel under Lake Erie in 1916. Wearing the Morgan Safety Hood, he, his brother Frank and two other volunteers entered the tunnel, returning with the individuals… both alive and dead. Cleveland's newspapers and city officials wrote him out of the story, lauding Tom Clancy, one of the volunteers, with the rescue effort. It would take years for the city to recognize his contributions.

In 1914, he would receive the first grand prize at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation for his invention of the Morgan Safety Hood.

In 1917, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission reviewed this heroic act as a nomination for their award.

By the 1920s, automobiles were competing with horse-drawn carriages in the street of America. Morgan would witness an accident at an intersection involving a horse carriage and an automobile. The people in the carriage were flung to the street, the driver of the car was knocked unconscious, and the horse had to be shot.

This may have prompted the idea for his next, and equally famous invention, the three-way traffic signal in 1922. It became the first one patented in the United States on November 20, 1923. Morgan would start the GA Morgan Safety System Company and later sell the rights to General Electric Company for $40,000. 

The signal consisted of a tall pole with a bell on top, movable arms with the words “stop” and “go,” two of which were raised and lowered by a hand crank. While the crank was turning, the bell would alert pedestrians and drivers that a change was going to take place

https://www.blackhistory.com/2020/01/garrett-morgan-black-inventor-first-gas-mask-three-position-traffic-light.html
https://mancunion.com/2020/10/30/an-ode-to-garrett-morgan-the-inventor-of-the-smoke-hood/

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1922-g-a-morgan-first-traffic-signal-antique-paper-patent-print-greg-edwards.html

https://mancunion.com/2020/10/30/an-ode-to-garrett-morgan-the-inventor-of-the-smoke-hood/

I didn't know stop signs had various sizes

or that Tesla used software to measure them to determine stopping distance and speed

https://www.thedrive.com/news/teslas-can-be-tricked-into-stopping-too-early-by-bigger-stop-signs

https://twitter.com/Cowcumber/status/1561431011036381184

more than 275,000 people have subscribed to a live video feed of a Salem MA intersection, to see, or place bets on, whether vehicles will come to a full stop at the intersection’s stop sign, or roll through

https://www.twitch.tv/stopsigncam

and most people do not stop. They just roll through, whether they make a left, or a right, they mostly just roll through

I don't think I've ever seen a "Stop" sign like this before... but some of you have, and recognized that it's a stop sign for the trolley car... (thanks Steve!)

 That PCC (Presidents’ Conference Committee) streetcar/tram is on Pittsburgh's No. 13 (Emsworth) route on Center Ave., just about to cross North St. That route was in operation from at least 1915 to September 3, 1966.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6058#post-12925181

love it... fun loving good old days when postcards had trick photography extremely huge hunting and fishing scenes

Notice the interesting stop sign design in the middle left 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/missouristatearchives/7109697731/

It deserves a mention, that stop lights in Portland were once speed bumps

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5156036-Vintage-photos-Awesome!/page474

ever see a yellow stop sign before?

Because paint was still a new and unreliable item, they hadn't yet invented a red dye that wouldn’t fade over time.

By 1954, though, sign makers began using a fade-resistant porcelain enamel.

So, the Joint Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices declared that, henceforth, stop signs would be red with white lettering.

I'm guessing that this didn't result in all the old ones being removed and replaced though, as the truck in the distant back ground is maybe an early 60's?

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6474

Stephen Ruth - " the Red Light Robinhood", proved that some stoplights on long Island, Suffolk County, are intentionally rigged to trick drivers into citations–the yellow lights at intersections with cameras only last 3 seconds, as opposed to the 5 seconds they last at other stoplights without cameras in the same county.

As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, one turning arrow light on Middle Country Road stays yellow for 5 seconds. So why, on the very same road, does another yellow arrow last only 3 seconds? (Sept 2015)

Ruth pointed out that the VAST majority of the cameras were found SPECIFICALLY in lower-to-middle-class neighborhoods. As well, the victims of these rigged stoplights tried to go to the local news station to talk about the deaths of their family members that occurred from the rigging.

The local station, “News12″, never aired their interviews.

News12 is actually owned by CableVision, who provides the internet service to the traffic cams at the illegally short yellow stop lights

Data released in April 2016 showed that at about half of the intersections with red-light cameras in Suffolk County, accidents with injuries are up.

 Stephen Ruth claims that the Suffolk County police chief and district attorney both got to keep their pensions and are still getting checks every month from Suffolk county even after being convicted of federal crimes.  https://twitter.com/RedLiteRobnHood/status/1271295465640931329

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/09/29/suffolk-red-light-cameras-rigged/  via
https://takesabeating.tumblr.com/post/626885740123553792/friendly-neighborhood-patriarch
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/stephen-ruth/
https://www.boredpanda.com/red-light-camera-scam-stephen-ruth
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/spin-cycle/ruth-libertarian-suffolk-legislature-1.34552285
https://projects.newsday.com/voters-guide/profile/stephen-ruth

He doesn't show up in 2020 news at all

He might have been doing all this to get elected. Clever, not impossible. 

the history of the upside down traffic light at Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, New York, at the corner of Milton Avenue and Tompkins Street. The only traffic light with green on top, red on the bottom... Why aren't they all this way? We kicked the English the hell out of this country!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tompkins+St+%26+Milton+Ave,+Syracuse,+NY+13204/@43.0466274,-76.1855668,3a,75y,168.86h,91.76t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMbcXW-bw_FRxFv3sQMjPTQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DMbcXW-bw_FRxFv3sQMjPTQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.gws-prod.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D360%26h%3D120%26yaw%3D152.74356%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x89d9f15df4b80695:0xd440bfa604845957!8m2!3d43.0465598!4d-76.1855708

Tipperary Hill, also known as Tipp Hill, is a district in the city of Syracuse, New York, largely settled by immigrants from Ireland, especially from County Tipperary. It makes up half of Syracuse's Far Westside neighborhood.

In the 1820s, when the Erie Canal was built from Albany to Buffalo, the Irish were the chief laborers. Located in the middle of the route, Syracuse was considered the hub of the system. After the canal was finished, many Irish people settled west of Syracuse on a hill overlooking the canal. This area became known as Tipperary Hill.

The story goes that in 1925, exactly 80 years ago, the city put up a new traffic signal with the green light on top, a salute to the Irish.

 John "Huckle" Ryan, then alderman of the Tipperary Hill section, requested that the traffic signal be hung with the green above the red in deference to the Irish residents. This was done, but soon the State of New York stepped in (state law dictates that traffic signals must follow the same sequence to avoid confusing the color-blind), and city officials reversed the colors.

Irish youth were still inflamed from the political tension from the 1921 Irish War of Independence with Britain. They often threw stones to break the "British" red top light above the "Irish" green, to prevent “red over green.” To them, red on top represented Britain having greater importance than Ireland.

Eventually, city leaders wore down. Tipperary Hill received the only traffic light in the nation where the green shines over red.

Bobby Kennedy drew a big crowd when he shook hands at the intersection in 1966.

Dinty Gilmartin, a one-legged Irish immigrant ran a grocery store at that Tipperary Hill intersection, and the stone throwers used to hang around his store. The Post-Standard in 1960 referred to Dinty Gilmartin, then 90, - - as the "guardian of the famous green-over-red traffic signal."

To Pat Ahern, the longtime Syracuse Hibernian, the light represents the Irish spirit of defiance - against the British, against the devastation of the great famine, against the struggles of adjusting to life in a new land.

On March 15, 2005, Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern visited Tipperary Hill, where he had his photo taken by the Green-on-Top traffic light

Congressman Jim Walsh (left) explains the legend of the traffic light at the corner of Milton Avenue and Tompkins Street, just as the statue depicts two parents doing with their children, to Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

During parts of his 10 terms in Congress, Walsh chaired the Friends of Ireland caucus and helped broker the Northern Ireland peace process.

In recent years, longtime neighborhood residents of Irish ancestry and local business owners gathered resources and encouraged the city to demolish an old run-down commercial building that was located on the northeast corner of the intersection where the "Green over Red" traffic light incident had occurred.

In 1997 the neighborhood group convinced the city to build a small park called the Tipperary Hill Memorial Park (above left side of the photo)  and erect a statue which is known as the Tipperary Hill Heritage Memorial on the same corner.

 The memorial is dedicated to those who, in the opinion of local residents, were brave sons of Ireland who stood up to City Hall to win the battle of the "Green over Red" traffic light. The statue was created by sculptor Dexter Benedict.

https://alchetron.com/Tipperary-Hill
http://www.livablecny.com/tipperary-hill-traffic-light/
https://www.syracuse.com/kirst/2005/03/rocks_against_red_lift_green_o.html
https://www.syracuse.com/news/2014/12/former_rep_james_walsh_named_one_of_worlds_top_100_irish_business_leaders.html
https://gizmodo.com/the-story-behind-syracuses-upside-down-traffic-light-1545301615

This Dutch town has red lights on the road because people cant stop looking at their phones.

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/baqz0l/this_dutch_town_has_red_lights_on_the_road/

the weatherman says another countrywide snow storm is coming, so, if you aren't sure you'll be ok, arrange now for a friend or family to check in on you every day

stop sign in Livingston Montana
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/ax8urc/winter_in_livingston_montana_is_windy_as_hell_and/

I was recently reading on a facebook page someone's plea for someone to come over and dig them out. How exactly was this person thinking they would get through the winter on the Canadian border without pre-arranging for someone to come help them with snow?

Don't be stupid, plan ahead, make sure you've got a friendly face that will pop in and make sure everything's good, because the smallest problem can quickly make life miserable, like if your pipes break or freeze, you run out of heating fuel, your electricity quits working, or your garage door jams.

Now, those are just not likely, but, what if you run out of beer? See? Panic time! So, make sure you're covered and have a buddy, pal, neighbor kid with a shovel, fellow vet from the VFW, or in an emergency, some ex you can piss off enough on the phone that she'll come over to keep you warm while re-arguing old gripes. Whatever it takes... hell, maybe you can out run her back to her car and leave her behind while you make a beer run and grab some snack food to wait until the spring thaw. I'm just brainstorming here, you'll have to figure out your own solutions. But be safe.

https://www.facebook.com/fabatneage/photos/a.781958575153422/2512509635431632/?type=3&permPage=1

better than most stop lights!

http://viralthings.tumblr.com/post/155322222101/cool-ukrainian-traffic-lights