Back before the Cultural Revolution period the a Communist party person (whose name is unknown to me and maybe history) introduced a measure to change the traffic lights so that red would mean GO, since it wasn’t fit that the color of communism should be associated with stopping. The party voted down the measure on the grounds that it would lead to too many traffic accidents. 
I’m assuming this is in reference to this column:
Ah, yep. Sorry for forgetting to mention that link. Anyway, the story seemed appropriate.
[Before anybody asks, yes, the following was prompted by this evening’s episode of Simon Schaffer’s Light Fantastic on BBC4.]
What Cecil misses is that colour blindness and railway safety had been an issue of active concern before 1914.
Following a train crash in Sweden where a train had probably jumped a red light because one of the crew were possibly colourblind, the British government set up an inquiry under Lord Rayleigh on the issue which reported in 1892. Their recommendation was that the likes of train drivers should be tested for red-green colour blindness in order to prevent such accidents.