You need to Bug out quickly with a vehicle and everyone has the same idea and your stuck behind traffic lights, which can seriously delay your bugout time (increased time means smaller bugout radius before TSHTF). A MIRT (Mobile InfraRed Transmitter) can be used to turn the lights from red to green.

A very low cost IR emitter can be purchased such as the one here;

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12625

It would seem that a homebrew modification can be made reasonably easy to modulate the IR beam to act as a MIRT and be disguised as a simple flashlight i.e. swapped out with another dropin into a flashlight like a Surefire 6P.

BTW (apparently it is highly illegal to use such a device, but the consequences of not bugging out in time may well be many times worse than getting caught using such a device)

Any thoughts!

It IS very illegal. I'm not sure how they catch you if it's IR based though. I imagine it would show up on the camera if a police cruiser were so equipped.

besides being illegal they have caught on to this already so while a simple IR signal could change the lights a few years ago when they were first introduced those have all been phased out. Someone is trying to get rid of all their old stock.

WRT bugging out in traffic. 9/11/01 I had to get into downtown and pick my wife up as we carpooled. The law firm she worked for didn't release the staff until all the lawyers were safely out of the building so she was one of the last people to leave which put us behind a lot of the traffic. Changing the lights won't do any good as yuor still going to be stuck in the intersections because the previous cars won't have moved forward yet. We sat thought many light changes at every intersection because there was no where to move to.

This thread should be deleted (and I hope it is), but in the event it isn't, why do you think your life is more valuable than everyone else's?

It may be illegal, and I don't have one, but to answer your question why I think MY life is worth more than someone elses? Because it's MINE

And Eugene - I hope ALL the staff (and I mean ALL) gave notice on 9/12

A) Illegal
B) The MIRT devices are now serialized so they send a coded series of pulses assigned to a specific agency. The older "dumb flashers" are not in use.

I also ponder the "bugging out" concept as being either of possible or necessary. Perhaps this is the result of my regular commute to NYC, an event that, under optimal conditions of dry pavement, no sun glare, the right phase of the moon and NASCAR-level driving skills on the part of all concerned takes 1.5 hours, and, if like the other day, you involve any of rain, wind, sun glare and mobile phone use, takes 3.5 hours.

In fact, a few weeks ago, I drove in to NYC with my family for a visit to my office and downtown NY.

Here's a Google Map showing the trip from 6th Avenue to the intersection of I-78 and the New Jersey Turnpike. Note that Google claims that this is a 23 minute trip. Combine a holiday weekend with an accident on I95, and the trip you see on the map took exactly 3 Hours, 30 Minutes. I happen to know this I wondered how long it would take to get out, and I have this hand timer in my Jeep, which I set to zero minutes when we rolled out of the parking lot.

So...that's just a casual drive out of the city, nothing to worry about.
13.7 miles. 3.5 Hours.
3.9 Miles per hour, slightly faster than a walk, certainly much slower than a bike ride.
MIRT? I think a bike and a trailer would be the most efficient way to go if I lived in the city. Of course, that's assuming your heart won't explode if you have to pedal more than 5 miles....

Hi kc2ixe,

I didn't say "someone" else's, I said "everyone" else's, not that I think it should make much of a difference. It sounds like he wants to cut to the head of the survival line. Not necessarily a good way to insure your survival, and in NYC traffic on a regular weekday, this trick wouldn't make much of a difference, let alone during an emergency.

Thanks for the virtual trip to New York Martin; makes me very happy I live where I do and therefore do not have to deal with all that.

Mike

Why take the chance that the family that crosses your path at the intersection won't run the light?

Go ahead and shoot them all in the head, proceed on your way and forgo the gadgetry.

/sarcasm

Seriously, this thread should be tossed. If your talking about a gun or a knife those can clearly be used as defensive weapons.

This idea is offensive.

As a matter of fact, while we're talking about ways of ensuring our survival, let's talk about the best cuts of meat a potential co-survivor could provide in an emergency and the best way to gut and dress a human.