The World’s First Traffic Light… That Exploded (1868) #history #shorts

In 1868, London unveiled the world’s first traffic light — a gas-powered tower with semaphore arms, designed to control horse-drawn chaos at a busy intersection. 🚦🐎

It worked perfectly… for about a month.

Then — KABOOM — the gas lamp inside exploded, seriously injuring the police officer operating it. 💥👮‍♂️

After that, the city scrapped the idea.
Turns out, Victorian-era London wasn’t quite ready for high-tech traffic control.

For a while, they just… let traffic sort itself out.

No lights. No signals. Just trust, timing, and a whole lot of luck.

A brilliant invention? Yes.
A little too explosive? Also yes.

#LondonHistory #WeirdHistory #EngineeringFail #DidYouKnow #history #shortsfeed