Episode 2 of 2

Signal Explosion and Removal

When: 2 January 1869
Where: Parliament Square (installation site; explosion site not localized in sources)
Part of: World's first traffic signal lights installed in Westminster, London

The traffic signal system exploded on 2 January 1869 and was subsequently taken down.

The system exploded on 2 January 1869 and was taken down. The supplied passages do not state the precise location of the explosion; the signal had been installed outside the Houses of Parliament in December 1868.

Sources

Traffic light Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-01

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.