William Phelps Eno | |
|---|---|
 Honorary driver's license for William Phelps Eno, issued by A. Bertillon, Préfecture de Police, Nancy, France, 1912 | |
| Born | William Phelps Eno 3 June 1858 |
| Died | 3 December 1945 (aged 87) |
| Known for | The "Father of Traffic Safety" |
William Phelps Eno (June 3, 1858 – December 3, 1945) was an American businessman responsible for many of the earliest innovations in road safety and traffic control. He is sometimes known as the "Father of traffic safety", despite never having learned to drive a car himself.
Among the innovations credited to Eno are traffic regulations, the stop sign, the pedestrian crosswalk, the traffic circle, the one-way street, the taxi stand, and pedestrian safety islands.[1] His rotary traffic plan was put into effect at Columbus Circle, New York City, in 1905, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, 1907, Piccadilly Circus in 1926, and the Rond Point on the Champs-Élysées in 1927.
- ^ Henebery, Ann. "The Rules of the Road: Then Versus Now", Eno Center for Transportation, October 6, 2015. Accessed October 9, 2017. "William P. Eno is internationally recognized as an original pioneer of traffic regulation and safety. He authored the very first Rules of the Road, which were adopted by New York City in 1909 and by London and Paris in the years following. He was dubbed the n'Father of Traffic Safety' and many of the traffic-flow innovations that we now take for granted were a result of Eno’s hard work. He is credited with designing Columbus Circle in New York City and the traffic circle surrounding the Arc de Triomphe in Paris."