who decided on the traffic light system as its the same the world over?

Answer 1

I don't know the answer but that's a good question.

Answer 2

Not quite the same the world over. There are differences from town to town, state to state, country to country. For instance, some places allow you to turn right at red light while other do not.

Department of Transportation usually sets a general guidelines in US.

Answer 3

Generally because signalling on the railways preceded road traffic signalling, and legend has it that the Scots built the worlds railways therefore the red for stop and green for go was already understood.

Wilkepedia has an interesting and informative article that will answer your question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_signal

Answer 4

It's not quite the same the world over. In some countries the sequence is red, amber, green rather then red, red and amber, green.......but hey!

Probably because it works well!

Answer 5

It is not the same "the world over". In Israel, the lights blink before they change, forewarning you that it will change soon.

Answer 6

It's an extremely rare incidence of compatibility - perhaps manufacturers could learn something from them ?

Answer 7

we need traffic lights so we can cross the road safely sonic-cool.

Answer 8

No it is not. Last time I checked the Chinese proceeded on RED and stopped on GREEN

Answer 9

Dont know.
It was probably the same person who invented the rear-view mirror - he never looked back !!!

Answer 10

in scotland
green means go
amber means go
red means go