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A traffic light in Syracuse, New York has a green light at the top and a red light at the bottom due to Irish immigrants’ resentment towards Britain. The light was vandalized until a green light was installed in 1928.
Every driver in America knows that red means stop and green means go, but if you visit Syracuse, New York, you might be tempted to double-turn at a particular traffic light. It’s not that the colors are different, but the locations are. Unlike every other road sign in the country, the one at the intersection of Tompkins Street and Milton Avenue has a green light at the top and a red light at the bottom. Why is it upside down? Because Tipperary Hill, where the traffic light was installed in 1925, was largely settled by Irish immigrants who helped dig the Erie Canal. They despised the idea that red, the symbol of much resentful Britain, was placed above green, the proverbial color of Ireland. It didn’t matter that the color settings were required by law: the light was vandalized and destroyed, time and time again. Whenever the city tried to replace him, the residents threw rocks at him. The city finally collapsed in 1928 and the new green light was put in place, which is how it remains to this day.
Light the way:
Cleveland, Ohio was the first city in the United States to install an electric traffic light, as a traffic control device in 1914.
Some road signs use differently shaped lights to help guide drivers with color blindness.
The world’s first traffic lights were installed in London in the 19th century; they were manually operated by police officers.
