The History Of The Colors
The predecessor of traffic lights for cars was traffic signals for trains. In the beginning, railroad companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go, and green to mean caution. And the color white caused trouble for train conductors since it can be easily confused with stars at night. Railway companies eventually turned to the color green to mean go, and the color yellow to mean proceed with caution since it's easily distinguishable from the other colors. And this standard was inherited when traffic lights were put up, except in Japan where you will find an entirely different color that signals "go".
Red has always been an indicator of danger, long before cars were even invented. Red is the color with the longest wavelength, so it can be seen from a greater distance than other colors. The color yellow was used to caution drivers because it has a slightly shorter wavelength than red, but not as short as green. These two are perfect for conveying urgent messages.
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