Why are the traffic lights clors green and red?

Question

All over the world only red and green have been used as traffic light colors.Wy not purple, pink, blue? Forget yellow, its only put on for a shprt while.Any answers?

Everybody-i mean why are the colors used not what does the color MEAN.i KNOW it emans stop, go, slow and all.MY QUESTION IS WHY ONLY THESE COLORS???????

Answer 1

In 1920 Police Officer William Potts addressed the chaotic traffic of Detroit, Michigan, by co-opting the red, amber, and green automatic traffic light system used on railroads. Around the same time, the prolific African American inventor Garrett Morgan devised and patented the precursor to the automatic traffic lights we use today.

Apparently the colors of red and green were standard in the electrical industry at the time. The makers of railroad signals and traffic lights simply adopted the familiar color scheme.

We can really only speculate as to why these colors were originally used in the industry. An About.com entry on color symbolism points out that different colors evoke different emotions in humans. Red generally symbolizes danger or warning, making it a good choice for "stop." Green is calming to us, probably because it is prolific in nature and a sign of health and abundance, so it might have lent itself to mean "go."

Curiously, yellow or amber, is associated with warmth, happiness, and the sun. Despite these connotations, it was chosen to symbolize "caution." Perhaps because it contrasts well with green and red, and is highly visible without being too harsh on the eyes of motorists. Today, yellow is commonly used as a warning symbol for both traffic signs and alert systems.

Answer 2

Red catches ppl's eyes. The colour which is opposite Red is Green. Between Red and Green the 1 colour that would contrast the two is Yellow. Juz common sense.

Answer 3

Money is green which mean you pay more attention to it
Blood is red which mean you do your best to stop it
Yellow is the color of the sun which mean you will slow down when the sun get in your eyes

Answer 4

That is a good question, since the colors red and green are the colors least distinguished by color blind people. Stupidity is the answer I guess.

Answer 5

Red catches people's attention more, and is often used to indicate danger or emergency. While green is softer and is used to show safety, hence for a Go light or exit. Yellow is harsh so is used for warning and caution.

Answer 6

I can't remeber exactly what the colors mean but red means stop or signals danger or a warning and green means use caution i think i can't remember though

Yellow means slow down though lol

http://ask.yahoo.com/20031023.html

Answer 7

haven't you driven a car?So think about the sun shining on the traffic lights,so if it was purple and blue instead of red and yellow,drivers would see the same colors as a result number of accidents would increase :)

Answer 8

Military Grade Tactical Flashlight - http://FlashLight.uzaev.com/?Olhr

Answer 9

first spell colors right.And red means stop,and green means go if you were over 16 you should know by now,

Answer 10

It is common knowledge that red means stop, green means go, and yellow is caution.