The ‘Little Traffic Light Man’ That Could
BERLIN — Perhaps motivated by his Communist surroundings, East German traffic psychologist Karl Peglau wanted a pedestrian traffic light for the proletariat. Everyone from the color-blind, to the elderly, to children uses sidewalks, he reasoned, so why not a “walk/don’t walk” symbol that makes sense to anyone—and, ideally, reduces traffic fatalities too.
In 1961, he devised a “walk” man in a straight-legged stride and a “don’t walk” man with arms outstretched like a cheerleader. He gave them noses and hands so as to “appropriately provoke the desired pedestrian behavior through emotion.”
Thus was born the Ampelmännchen, or “little traffic light men,” the hatted, purposeful-looking indicators that helped direct traffic in East Germany and have since gained cult status.
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