Traffic light man

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Traffic light with Ampelmännchen in Göttingen

The term Ampelmännchen or Ampelmann is the general term for the pedestrian signal of a traffic light . In the red phase it shows the symbol of a standing pedestrian and in the green phase the symbol of a walking pedestrian.

Different traffic light men
Passage piéton vert.jpg
Paris, France (2006)
2009-05-30-polska-by-RalfR-71.jpg
Szczecin, Poland (2009)


history

With the beginning of motorization , the number of vehicles increased sharply, especially in cities. In order to eliminate the resulting danger for pedestrians, the first pedestrian traffic light was put into operation in Copenhagen in 1933 . Berlin followed in 1937. These were reduced vehicle traffic lights that were equipped with a green and a red light field.

In New York in 1952 pedestrian lights with the words “Walk” and “Don't Walk” were installed. In Germany, following this system, traffic lights were occasionally installed, the light fields of which showed the words “waiting” and “going”. These traffic lights were hardly accepted by pedestrians. The use of the colors red for standing and green for walking as well as the representation of a symbolized pedestrian in a standing or walking position prevailed in Europe. As a rule, the pedestrian symbol is colored and the background is black. An Austrian specialty are white figures on a red and green background.

Forms of representation

Symbol of the euro male

Representation of the traffic light man

With the worldwide use of the traffic light man as a pedestrian signal, a wide range of different forms of representation has developed. In some countries, such as France or Korea , the symbols have a very sober appearance and depict pedestrians in a very abstract way. In other places, such as Austria or Belgium , pedestrians were given anthropomorphic shapes and are depicted with clothing.

The EU strives to standardize the symbols of the individual member states. For this purpose, the Euro male was developed, which is built into new traffic lights. In Germany, in addition to the Euro male, the West German Ampelmännchen and the East Ampelmann are common. In Switzerland , the euro male is predominantly found and in Austria the variant described above with a white male on a red and green background is also used.

Different forms are permitted in Germany, but are subject to certain minimum requirements. The red figure must always be shown standing, the green one always walking.

A combination of a man (for pedestrians) and a bicycle symbol (for cyclists) is widespread on cycle paths that are also used by pedestrians.

Animated males

Xiaolüren (Taiwan), about 14 × 14 pixels

In some countries the green traffic light man is shown in motion, the pace of which accelerates towards the end of the green phase. In Taiwan there have been animated, running traffic light figures ( 小 綠 人 , xiǎolǜrén  - "little green man") since 1999 , officially Chinese  行人 倒數 計時  „-" pedestrian countdown display ". This variant of a traffic light display was first introduced in Taipei between Song-shou and Shi-fu streets and spread throughout the country in the years that followed. The LED display of the traffic light shows a man in a hat who is animated over seven different individual images as if he were walking, and who can run faster at the end of the traffic light phase by varying the image change times .

In Spain and Turkey , too , the traffic light man is shown animated running, which accelerates towards the end of the green phase.

No males and other forms

"Don't Walk" ad, New York City

Canada and the United States forego the depiction of a standing male and instead show a palm or the words “Walk” and “Don't Walk”.

East traffic light man

East traffic light man

In 1961, the traffic psychologist Karl Peglau suggested to the GDR Ministry of Transport that every group of road users should have their own set of traffic lights. He developed special signs for pedestrian traffic lights that show the symbol of a standing or walking pedestrian.

After the design by Karl Peglau in 1961, after years of professional, scientific and state tests, the East Berlin traffic light men were introduced in 1969 in East Berlin at the intersection of Unter den Linden / Friedrichstraße and in 1970 were included in the GDR traffic light standard as official pedestrian signals.

After reunification in 1990, the East German Ampelmännchen in the area of ​​the former GDR were gradually exchanged for the West German Ampelmännchen. This resulted in protests among the population. As a result, East German and West German cities (re) introduced East German traffic lights.

Traffic light woman (traffic light girl, traffic light woman)

In 1996, the graphic artist Hans-Jürgen Ellenberger designed a traffic light woman from the shape of the East Ampelmännchen (see Ost-Ampelmännchen # traffic light woman ), which has since become popular in several German cities.

  • Brandenburg: In 2012, the accusation of the parliamentary group leader of the SPD in Teltow , Christine Hochmuth, that "a woman with long pigtails and a swinging skirt does not convey a contemporary image of women" caused a stir . With this view she rejected the proposal of a city councilor to introduce the traffic light woman in Teltow. The traffic light woman was introduced in Brandenburg.
  • Cologne: traffic lights have been on at some traffic lights in Cologne-Ehrenfeld since 2009.
  • Lithuania: On the occasion of 100 years of women's suffrage in Lithuania , traffic lights were installed on some traffic lights on November 2, 2018 in the capital Vilnius .
  • Amersfoort, Netherlands: there has been a traffic light woman in Amersfoort since the end of 2000 . It has been given the nickname Sofie and has since found its way to other places.

  • Amersfoort, Sofie

  • Traffic light women in Zwickau

  • Traffic light woman Cologne

  • Traffic light woman Cologne

  • Traffic light woman.svg

Pair of traffic lights

  • Vienna, Austria: Since 2015, pairs of traffic lights have been installed in Vienna , which show man and woman in all three possible combinations. This was copied in many cities.
  • For Cologne Pride 2019, traffic lights with same-sex couples were installed along the path of the parade.

  • Traffic light pair Vienna

  • lesbian traffic light women

  • Traffic light couple Hamburg

  • Pair of traffic lights Munich

  • Traffic light couple Madrid

Personalities and groups related to the city

  • Emden: in Emden there is a traffic light in which a representation of the comedian Otto Waalkes is on duty as a traffic light man.
  • Friedberg: In Friedberg , three pedestrian traffic lights with the silhouette of Elvis Presley , the "King of Rock'n'Roll", have been lit since the end of November 2018 . The traffic lights can be found around the city's Elvis-Presley-Platz. Elvis Presley spent a year and a half in town as a soldier.
  • Trier: on the occasion of Karl Marx's 200th birthday in 2018, four traffic lights in his native Trier were equipped with little traffic lights in the shape of Karl Marx. The first was inaugurated on March 19, not far from the Porta Nigra , and another is in the immediate vicinity of Marx's birthplace .
  • Aarhus: In Denmark, 17 traffic lights were given Vikings as traffic light men from August 2019 . On the 900th anniversary, they are intended to commemorate the importance of Aarhus in the 10th century. The corresponding signaling devices were attached to streets whose location dates back to that time.
  • Wellington, New Zealand: Wellington has a traffic light with the silhouette of Kate Sheppard , a social reformer, suffragette and the first woman president of the New Zealand National Women's Council. Also in Wellington, the traffic light stands for Carmen Rupe (1936–2011), drag queen, anti-discrimination activist and transgender woman.

  • Karl-Marx-Ampelmännchen in Trier

  • Worms, Martin Luther standing

  • Worms: Luther going

  • Kate Sheppard, Wellington

  • Carmen Rupe, Wellington

Occupations related to the city

  • Leverkusen: in Leverkusen-Schlebusch on Oulustraße, since May 8, 2019, a pedestrian traffic light in Toripolliisi in Leverkusen's twin town Oulu has been regulating traffic as a traffic light man. This is intended to express the appreciation of the city partnership between Leverkusen and Oulu, which has existed since 1968. The Toripolliisi (German market policeman) stands for the police officers who used to ensure order and peace on the Ouluer market square. The Toripolliisi is a 2.20 m high bronze statue in the market square of Oulu.
  • Ruhr area: "Miners' traffic lights", which are supposed to remind of the mining tradition of the cities of the Ruhr area at the end of mining, are in various Ruhr area cities, including Dinslaken , Duisburg , Essen , Herne , Kamp-Lintfort , Moers , Neukirchen-Vluyn and Oberhausen . The males hold a miner's lamp and wear a helmet. The first traffic light with this motif was put into operation in Duisburg in October 2018, Herne and Moers followed in December 2019, Essen in June 2020.
  • Solingen: in memory of the Liëwermang , Mayor Tim Kurzbach inaugurated the Liëwer women traffic light on Grunewaldstrasse with appropriately designed motifs on November 15, 2019: ⊙

  • Duisburg miners traffic light

  • Ampelmännchen in Kamp-Lintfort

  • Ampelmännchen in Kamp-Lintfort

  • Liewerfrau in Solingen

  • Liewerfrau in Solingen

  • "Traffic light soldier" in Fredericia (Denmark)

Legends, stories and landmarks related to the city

  • Augsburg went on July 14, 2017 Augsburg , the puppet traffic light one in operation, at the intersection Milchberg / Spitalgasse in green for pedestrians Kasper (Swabian Punch ), in red, the standard Ampelmännchen shows. The traffic light is near the Augsburger Puppenkiste .
  • Hameln: In Hameln, three pedestrian and bicycle traffic lights in the green phase with the silhouette of the Pied Piper of Hamelin were put into operation in July 2019 for tourist reasons , which was financed by sponsors. Originally, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Transport rejected the redesign and did not want to issue a special permit.
  • Mainz were in November 2016 in Mainz pedestrian signals of the traffic lights at Neubrunnenplatz with Mainzelmännchen equipped as traffic figures. On the Day of German Unity , which was held in Mainz at the time, more were added in 2017. In 2019 there were 11 traffic lights that were appropriately equipped, five of them in Mainz-Lerchenberg , the headquarters of ZDF and the “home” of the Mainzelmännchen.
  • Wesel: In December 2019 Wesel put eight traffic lights into operation with the representation of a donkey when the green phase lights up. The Wesel donkey is the city's symbolic animal.
  • Utrecht, Netherlands: Utrecht has a Nijntje traffic light. Nijntje, a white rabbit, is a picture book character.

  • Augsburg puppet traffic light

  • Traffic light with the Pied Piper of Hamelin

  • Mainzel male green

  • Mainz

  • Plauen: father-and-son traffic light

Christmas figures

Traffic lights in Hanover
  • Hanover: in connection with the Hanover Christmas market , the building authority will set up pedestrian traffic lights during the Christmas season, with an elk and an angel appearing during the green phase.
  • Lüneburg: In Lüneburg, in connection with the Christmas market, a Santa Claus is shown on pedestrian traffic lights in the green phase.

More alternative traffic light men

  • Erfurt: As early as the 1980s, municipal employees in Erfurt came up with the idea of ​​changing the uniform appearance of individual green traffic light figures when they were servicing and repairing traffic lights, so that 14 of the total of 1400 pedestrian traffic lights in Erfurt show a modified green traffic light man (hiker with rucksack and Walking stick, Ampelmännchen with umbrella, Ampelmännchen as school beginners with a sugar bag). These survived both the introduction of the West German Ampelmännchen after reunification and efforts to establish a uniform EU-wide Ampelmännchen. The municipal tourist information office in Erfurt offers thematic city tours (Erfurt Ampelmann Tour) on the subject.
  • Innsbruck, Austria: On the occasion of the International Children's Games in Tyrol, the state capital Innsbruck received some sporty traffic light men from January 7, 2016: skiers, snowboarders, skateboarders, hikers. The city changed 36 traffic lights and spent 1,400 euros. It was not the plastic diffusers that were exchanged, but rather the stiff foils behind them in the luminaire housing, which represent the figures in black and thus keep the illuminated area large.
  • Prague, Czech Republic: on April 8, 2007 in Prague the artist Roman Týc replaced the standard traffic light man of 50 pedestrian traffic lights with female, one-legged, peeing, drinking and other human emotions, “to get the traffic light man out of the straitjacket liberate. “A video of the exchange of symbols, Romantycke semafory ('Romantic traffic lights'), won the audience award at the SidewalkCinema 2007 festival in Vienna. Týc had to pay the equivalent of 3,300 euros in damages for the re-assembly to the city, and although he was acquitted of the charge of damage to and endangering the operation of a public facility, he was still fined 2,500 euros in 2008 and instead went to prison for 1 month in 2012.
  • Gothenburg: near the Swedish amusement park Liseberg , a rabbit shows the way.

  • Erfurt, male with umbrella

  • Erfurt, wanderer

  • Motif by Roman Týc, Prague 2007

  • Motif by Roman Týc, Prague

  • Rabbits at Liseberg

literature

  • Markus Heckhausen: The book of the Ampelmännchen . Eulenspiegel-Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-359-00910-X .
  • Claudia Kühn: Ampelmann - From traffic signs to cult figures. Ampelmann Edition, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-9817587-0-2 .

Web links

Commons : Ampelmännchen  - collection of images
Wiktionary: Traffic light woman  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Ampelmann  - explanations of meanings, word origins , synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Ampelmännchen  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brief history of traffic and pedestrian traffic lights
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Jung among others: Green light for Ampelmännchen . In: Wormser Zeitung of October 1, 2019, p. 6.
  3. ^ Transportation Bureau, Taoyuan County Government  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) onA@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / traffic.tycg.gov.tw
  4. ↑ 小 綠 人 原創 者 批 北 市府 搶 功. In Liberty Times online, accessed January 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ Anniversary: ​​From the traffic light into the world - The East Ampelmännchen is 50. After the fall of the Wall it should be discarded, meanwhile it has also conquered the West. online at fr.de, accessed on February 19, 2018 ( Memento from February 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ MPs find traffic light woman sexist . Der Tagesspiegel : March 9, 2012, accessed March 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ With skirt and pigtails: First Brandenburg traffic light woman on duty . In: Berliner-Kurier.de . ( berliner-kurier.de [accessed on October 13, 2017]).
  8. ↑ Heribert Rösgen: Traffic: Cologne's first traffic lights shine. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , March 9, 2009, accessed on March 13, 2020 .
  9. ↑ 100 years of women's suffrage: Vilnius introduces traffic light women orf.at, November 3, 2018, accessed November 3, 2018.
  10. ↑ With skirt and pigtails: First Brandenburg traffic light woman on duty . In: Berliner-Kurier.de . ( berliner-kurier.de [accessed on October 13, 2017]).
  11. ↑ Monika Salchert: About the CSD: Cologne gets same-sex traffic light male pairs. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , February 12, 2019, accessed on March 13, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Wolfgang Jung among others: Green light for Ampelmännchen . In: Wormser Zeitung of October 1, 2019, p. 6.
  13. ^ Bavarian Broadcasting: Three Elvis traffic lights in Hessen. December 5, 2018 ( page no longer available , search in web archives: br.de ), accessed on December 5, 2018.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.br.de
  14. ↑ On his 200th birthday: Karl Marx becomes a traffic light man. Süddeutsche Zeitung , March 19, 2018, accessed on August 10, 2020 .
  15. ↑ On Marx's 200th birthday at Trier traffic lights , SWR.de , March 19, 2018
  16. ↑ Wolfgang Jung among others: Green light for Ampelmännchen . In: Wormser Zeitung of October 1, 2019, p. 6.
  17. ↑ Evangelical Church in Germany: Luther becomes the Ampelmännchen in Worms - art campaign for the Rhineland-Palatinate Day commemorates the Reichstag in Worms in 1521 . May 16, 2018 , accessed August 8, 2018.
  18. ↑ Susanne Müller, in: Wormser Zeitung: Martin Luther lights up traffic lights in Worms: "Martinsmännchen" show the way at the Lutherring . May 15, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  19. ↑ Wolfgang Jung among others: Green light for Ampelmännchen . In: Wormser Zeitung of October 1, 2019, p. 6.
  20. ↑ Marten Ravn and Henrik Lund: Rådmandens vikinge-lyskryds sættes op . In: Århus Stiftstidende, August 24, 2019, p. 12; Aarhus installed the first Viking Ampelmännchen orf.at, August 26, 2019, accessed August 27, 2019.
  21. ↑ Ampelmännchen Toripolliisi - Market Policeman Leverkusen
  22. ↑ In Dinslaken Ampelmännchen now carry miner's lamps . In: radio kw of October 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2020
  23. ↑ Theresa Langwald: World's first "miners traffic light" inaugurated in Duisburg . WAZ of October 11, 2018. Accessed October 11, 2018
  24. ↑ Bergmann-Ampelmännchen in Essen: You can find them here now . Radio Essen, news from June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020
  25. ↑ Herne inaugurates the first miners' traffic light on Monday . WAZ dated December 13, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2020
  26. ↑ First miners traffic light in Moers is up . In: radio kw of December 5, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2020
  27. ↑ Solinger Tageblatt of November 16, 2019
  28. ↑ You know you are in Fredericia… Blog Zest for Life , blogspot.com, May 2005.
  29. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine: On July 14th, the Kasperl traffic light goes into operation . In: Augsburger Allgemeine . ( augsburger-allgemeine.de [accessed on October 26, 2017]).
  30. ↑ Hameln puts pied piper traffic lights into operation at ndr.de from July 2, 2019
  31. ↑ No green light for Pied Pieds as Ampelmännchen at ndr.de from June 26, 2018.
  32. ↑ Maike Hessedenz: Green light for Det: First traffic light with Mainzelmännchen in Mainz in operation. Allgemeine Zeitung , November 23, 2016, accessed November 28, 2016.
  33. ↑ Wolfgang Jung among others: Green light for Ampelmännchen . In: Wormser Zeitung of October 1, 2019, p. 6.
  34. ^ City of Plauen: "Father and Son" as the new Ampelmännchen in Plauen . December 2019
  35. ↑ welt.de: In Wesel, the traffic light donkey goes from December 6th, 2019. Retrieved on December 6th, 2019
  36. ↑ youtube.com
  37. ↑ In Lüneburg, Santa Claus regulates the traffic at ndr.de from November 30, 2018
  38. ↑ In Lüneburg, Santa Claus regulates the traffic at ndr.de from November 30, 2018
  39. ↑ Gallery of the various males
  40. ↑ Erfurt is the nucleus of the extravagant Ampelmännchen . In: Thüringer Allgemeine , October 13, 2011.
  41. ↑ Erfurt Ampelmann Tour (Ampelmännchen in Erfurt) - Erfurt Tourism . In: EVE Tourist Information in Erfurt . Erfurt 2012 ( erfurt-touristinformation.de ).
  42. ↑ Sporty traffic light men in Innsbruck. ORF.at, January 7, 2016, accessed January 8, 2016.
    International Children's Games. ORF.Tirol.at, January 4, 2016, accessed January 8, 2016.
  43. ↑ Portrait: Prague collective Ztohoven - Part 1. arte Tracks, from March 31, 2011; Tom Klim, April 6, 2011, youtube.com, video 6:53. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
  44. ↑ sabotage in Prague - traffic light man with bottle . sueddeutsche.de, April 11, 2007.
  45. ^ Hans-Jörg Schmidt: Urinating Ampelmännchen - artists condemned . In: Welt Online . December 6, 2011.
  46. ↑ sidewalkCINEMA 2007. ( Memento from May 16, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) film.at, 2007, accessed May 16, 2015.
  47. ^ Pavel: Arrested: Political Street Art in Prague ; accessed October 12, 2019.
  48. ↑ “Ztohoven” artist convicted of releasing Ampelmännchen. Christian Rühmkorf, Radio Prague, May 22, 2008, accessed May 16, 2015.