With his hat, pointy nose and shoes, the Ampelmann is undeniably cute, but behind the figure is a great deal of psychological research and testing. The first traffic light specifically for pedestrians was debuted in Copenhagen in 1933, and by 1952 these had developed into illuminated signs with the instructions 'Warten' and 'Gehen', much like the 'Walk' and 'Don't Walk' traffic lights in New York.

Peglau was concerned by the ever-increasing risk cars posed to pedestrians throughout the 20th century and presented his designs for a little human figure to the East Berlin traffic authorities on October 13th, 1961.īefore this, the first traffic light in Berlin was set up in Potsdamer Platz in 1924 and was, in fact, an 8m tall tower, manned by a policeman. The father of the Ampelmann was traffic psychologist, engineer and designer, Karl Peglau. is paying homage to this cult figure on his 56th anniversary with a cute animated Doodle of a working Ampelmann traffic light.

The Berlin Ampelmann was originally unique only to East Berlin, but nowadays it can be seen on traffic lights around the city, guiding you to safety whenever you cross a junction on foot.

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