Themes in American History

While New York City was the capital of many kinds of consumer goods manufacturing such as clothing, furniture and so forth, Detroit became automobile capital in twentieth century. By that time Ford, General Motors and Crysler were considered as three big automakers. When industry moved out of the urban city, most of white collar workers come after to be near their jobs. At the same time, the development of automobile industry brought enormous number of immigrants and migrants into Detroit in beginning of twentieth century. One another reason that people started to move to suburban is many american car  companies produced cheaper one, so that even low wage job workers could afford to get one. While people in New York City tended to  use public transportation , for instance subway or streetcars, people in other suburban started to drive a car to the city for work.

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As the others already talked about, the automobiles started to be famous in the 1920s, and it was somewhat affordable for the citizens. Ford Company, in Detroit, came up with simple and cheaper automobils that Americans could buy. It helped the economy of  the automobil industry, however, it had made some troubles; the traffic.

The rapid growth of the automobil use in the cities made some problems on the roads, and this had to be fixed. William L. Potts, the Police Officer of Detroit, Michigan, came up with idea of adapting the railroad signals for street use. Potts used red, amber, and green railroad lights and about thirty-seven dollars worth of wire and electrical controls, and invented the four way three color traffic light. In 1920, Detroit became the first city to use the four way three color traffic lights, installed at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue, to control the traffic. (From Waving Arms to LED’s, http://www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/newsletter/07-4/traffic_signals.php)

We live in the society in which the use of automobils is playing a crucial role. The traffic lights at the time cleaned up the streets that were in confusion because of the great increase of automobil usages, and made sure of the safety in the society. If the trafic lights have not been invented as the way Potts has, the traffic today couldn’t be this safe. The basic system of today’s traffic lights is still the same; four ways and three colors. This invention surely can be said as great contribution to the modernity. 

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