Red - amber - green, everyone knows and understands it. The traffic light - also referred to as traffic signal - turns 100 these days. In August 1914 the world's first electrical traffic light was put into operation in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Today, millions of traffic lights regulate the traffic at intersections and pedestrian crossings in the cities of the world. Technologically a lot has changed, especially regarding construction and photometrics.

SWARCO's own traffic light history started 4 decades ago and began with a pioneering achievement. SWARCO Futurit (then FUTURIT) entered the market with the first traffic signal made of plastic in Vienna in the 1970s. Today SWARCO FUTURIT is the world leader in this area with the production of over 100.000 traffic lights a year. Nowadays polycarbonate is the durable main material used in the production of the signals produced in the SWARCO plant in Neutal, Burgenland, from where the signals are shipped to more than 70 countries. LEDs (light emitting diodes) are now the light sources for red, amber and green, replacing incandescent and halogen lamps. LED technology saves up to 90% of energy, resulting in a power input as little as 8 W for a modern traffic light, still meeting all specifications regarding light technology and at the same time avoiding the critical phantom light in low sun light. LED light sources are ten times more durable and thus require less maintenance, which relieves the communal budget. With a consistent eco-design SWARCO FUTURIT was able to reduce the weight of a 3 aspect FUTURA traffic light to 4 kg. The product ALUSTAR, which combines an aluminium housing with polycarbonate light modules characterizes entire cityscapes in Scandinavia or, e.g. Dublin, Ireland. Special forms of traffic lights for public and maritime transport are also part of SWARCO's portfolio.

As a traffic light specialist SWARCO offers different symbols for "the little green man" and various accessories, including push-buttons for pedestrians and acoustic units in the push-button or directly in the traffic light. Traffic signals are an important component of urban traffic management, for which SWARCO implements complete solutions ranging from intersection control to traffic management centers. SWARCO's traffic control devices can recently communicate with vehicles of the Audi brand in selected cities and provide information about the green wave or the control phases of traffic lights, directly on the instrument panel. The first traffic light in Cleveland, manually operated by a policeman, has developed into an important component of intelligent transport systems over the past 100 years. Congratulation!

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