showing pedestrians in the socialist republic whether it was safe to cross the road Fifty years after a traffic psychologist in the GDR came up with the design for pedestrian crossing signals that would be easily distinguishable for the visually impaired the Ampelmännchen has become a cult figure around the world Thursday was the 50th birthday of the East German design is a rare example of a product of the GDR triumphing in a united Germany and beyond the Ampelmännchen can be seen across Germany fuelled by the mantra that "west is best" to dismantle as quickly as possible the remains of the GDR from the hated Stasi secret police to the street furniture Unified Germans were to not only use the same currency but also the same traffic lights with the introduction of a standard "euro" light based on the more staid (and hatless) western design when the euphoria of reunification had worn off a group of East Germans decided they were not prepared to see another piece of their history thrown onto the scrap heap They formed a committee called Rescue the Ampelmännchen! which lobbied Berlin's traffic minister until he allowed the Ampelmännchen to rise again The David of traffic signalling had triumphed over the imperialist Goliath many traffic lights in the west of Berlin have been converted to the eastern style and became the first former West German municipality to switch to the eastern design The Ampelmännchen is not just seen at road intersections an enterprising West German patented the design and his company now sells a range of 500 branded items The firm has a turnover of about €8m (£7m) per year and has four shops in Berlin as well as one in Seoul and another in Tokyo The company is run by graphic designer Markus Heckhausen who bought the patent from the original designer Peglau had worked out that many of the 10,000 road deaths between 1955 and 1960 were due to unclear traffic lights – specifically that pedestrians were having to follow the same signals as cars In 1969 the first of Peglau's designs was installed on Unter den Linden This footnote was added on 27 March 2012. Terminology used in this article was mentioned in the annexe to an Open door column on 4-5 March 2012.