It’s hard to imagine cities without traffic circles, stop signs, one-way streets, zebra crossings, or pedestrian safety islands. It’s even harder to imagine all these innovations were created by a man who never learned to drive. William Phelps Eno was born in New York City in 1858. Though automobiles hadn’t been invented yet, congestion was already a big problem. When William was nine, he and his mother were involved in a traffic jam. “There were only about a dozen horses and carriages involved. All that was needed was a little order to keep traffic moving. Yet nobody knew what to do.” As an adult, William proposed “Concise, simple rules, easily understood, obeyed and enforced. These rules must be circulated, leaving no excuse for not knowing them. Police must be empowered to enforce these rules, and men trained for this purpose.” When “The Father of Traffic Safety” died in 1945, cities all over the world were using William’s ideas.
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