Sunday, March 04, 2007

Why Are Stop Lights Red?

Kids have the ability to know what you are able to answer and what you can not. I can tell my kids why the sky is blue, but I had no idea why stop lights are red. Guess which question Tater asked me on the way to preschool? yaaa... Why are stop lights red. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Then I found this SITE and it said:

Red, the color of blood, proved a logical choice for the stop signal, as for thousands of years, this color forbade danger. The color alone, railroad engineers reasoned, should give people cause to pause, to abide by the signal, and to stop or suffer the consequences of death and destruction.


Since nothing else gave a better explanation... that was the one I used with my son. Sigh... why can't they ask something I can answer right on the spot???

6 comments:

michele said...

'cause their job is to test mommy's brain?

When I ask my son why he asks me such interesting questions he says it's because I know a lot of stuff, he thinks I have a computer in my brain.

Don't you just love being the answer gal? plus you get to learn all sorts of interesting stuff you never cared to know!

sticks said...

my son asked me that same question just yesterday! And he's 16. It must be a boy thing.

GUYK said...

Hmmm, the answer is logical and is probably correct. But I reckon there are a lot of blue bloods in my area because the sumbitches ignore red lights..they figure a red light just means that there is time for at least three more vehicles to get through the intersection..

Bou said...

Whenever my kids have a question I cannot answer imediately they say, "Call Big Daddy!"

raising4boys.com said...

Simple... Because "Go" lights are green!

Harvey said...

I thought it was because it's the color of your eyes after staying up all night drinking tequila shots, and you look in the mirror and say "I've GOT to stop drinking" :-)