A four* sided mechanical cop suspended over the centre of a junction that directs traffic.

Each queue of traffic is greeted by a shiny, smiling copper’s face with rosy red cheeks. Below the face sits a bulging blue tunic with shiny brass buttons, above a tall copper’s helmet, shared by all four faces. Each face is accompanied by a mechanical right arm that rises to direct traffic to halt or lowers and swings to wave it on. All made from metal and painted in high gloss, of course.

Oh and there’s none of that electric ‘elastic-trickery’ involved here. Each cop is a piece of high-precision clockwork engineering, powered by a wound spring. The timing of the movements are impeccable, the actions precise if somewhat stiff. Every night the Master of Traffic walks the streets with his/her huge key, slotting it into the kerbside posts from which the cops hang, winding up the cops for their next day’s work.

*or however many roads meet.