The traffic light system, as we know it today, was developed by William H. Potts, a Detroit police officer, in 1920. Morgan's 1923 traffic system was neither lit, nor electric, nor automatic, nor was it ever used. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Potts en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Morgan
Well, this is an often debated question. For most say the original traffic light was invented by Garrett Augustus Morgan (Black inventor, who also invented the 'Safety Hood') in 1920, Detroit, Michigan. He has been credited with inventing the first traffic light and all its attributes.
However, in 1868 a traffic signal was used in London which used a revolving lantern based system. This was invented by JP Knight and the traffic light contained all the same attributes with the same colour system. However, no patents have been found or have been released for this invention. Thus leaving Garrett Augustus Morgan to claim himself as the inventor of the traffic light.
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