The invention of the stop sign

One of my favorite design stories is about the invention of the stop sign. I’ve told this story since before I went to design school.

William Phelps Eno is responsible for the stop sign, but the dysfunctional city roads needed more than just stop signs. William created:

modern day traffic regulations
traffic circles
pedestrian crosswalks
one-way streets
taxi stands
pedestrian safety islands.

William was 9 years old in 1867 when he was caught in a horse-and-carriage traffic jam and he felt frustrated that, “neither the drivers nor the police knew anything about the control of traffic.”

Traffic continued to interrupt his life into the 20th century. It was no longer a rare occurrence in cities to see horses, carriages, pedestrians, bicycles and now automobiles all at one intersection. This lead to the first Traffic Safety Code and traffic plans for New York City, London and Paris. Then, the first stop sign was installed in Detroit, Michigan in 1915.

Today, the stop sign is among few globally recognizable designs. He has a foundation named after him, The Eno Center for Transportation. He was nicknamed the “Father of Traffic Safety.” His designs, rules and regulations became cultural phenomena.

He died at 87 years old in 1945 without ever having driven a vehicle. He didn’t trust them, so instead he always rode through town on horseback.

There’s a better lesson in this story somewhere, but I read it when I was first taking an interest in design. Stop signs make me think about how great anecdotes are behind more everyday objects than most people would expect.