# Carriying a dead passanger on a car **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775 "2014-07-10T16:59:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/1 "2014-07-10T16:59:51Z")
I was wondering. What would be the course of action if an old couple is driving on a deserted road and all of a sudden Mr. Doe passes away. There are no cellphones near by and the wife is a doctor and knows pretty well that her husband is dead. Could she carry the body to a nearby town? Is it legal to transport someone who is not alive on your car? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/2 "2014-07-10T17:02:20Z")
I think the notion that old Mrs. Doe would get out and strap Bob to the roof is a bit odd. But yes, I believe it’s legal to transport a DOA directly to some branch of the authorities as long as there is no criminal act to investigate or attempt to misrepresent the circumstances of the death. I have been present when a natural death was removed from a house and it was paramedics who responded both times and did nothing of a “crime scene” nature. They left a good mess of tear off tabs, bags etc. in a pro-forma resuscitation attempt both times, though. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/3 "2014-07-10T17:28:34Z")
> [@Artemis\_Tardis](#): > > I was wondering. What would be the course of action if an old couple is driving on a deserted road and all of a sudden Mr. Doe passes away. There are no cellphones near by and the wife is a doctor and knows pretty well that her husband is dead. Could she carry the body to a nearby town? Is it legal to transport someone who is not alive on your car? The world cup loss was _that_ bad that you are wondering how to transport all the dead people? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/4 "2014-07-10T17:58:02Z")
In the scenario you describe, she would have no choice but to take him somewhere. Are you asking if she would have to leave him on the side of the road while she went for help? Although, we did have the local ambulance company leave a body in the family’s driveway\*, it isn’t the recommended course of action. I once transported an articulated human skeleton in the front seat of my car. I got a warning, not for having human remains in the car, but for causing a distraction to other drivers. - They were both rookies and they got another call. They thought they had to take the call for a live person over transporting to the morgue. They called the ME’s office, explained the situation. The person at the morgue said something like, “Oh, just leave it in the driveway.” She was being sarcastic, but they didn’t get it. Thus, the body bag in the yard. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/5 "2014-07-10T18:02:37Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > I once transported an articulated human skeleton in the front seat of my car. I got a warning, not for having human remains in the car, but for causing a distraction to other drivers. “Sir or madam, _that_ does not entitle you to use the Carpool Lane.” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/6 "2014-07-10T18:28:30Z")
… or Tunnels. They’re part of the Syndrome too. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/7 "2014-07-10T18:31:34Z")
\*Is it legal to transport someone who is not alive on your car? \* It all depends on the situation. In the scenario you describe, no one will say anything. If however, you decide to keep the dead guy around and use him as your carpooling passenger, then you’ve got some explaining to do. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/8 "2014-07-10T18:39:56Z")
> [@Artemis\_Tardis](#): > > I was wondering. What would be the course of action if an old couple is driving on a deserted road and all of a sudden Mr. Doe passes away. There are no cellphones near by and the wife is a doctor and knows pretty well that her husband is dead. Could she carry the body to a nearby town? Is it legal to transport someone who is not alive on your car? I’m assuming there is either a typo there, or that English is not the OP’s first language. I’m sure you would get stopped for having a body _on_ your car. You would probably get stopped for having the body of an animal strapped to your car, because it might block your vision, and distract other drivers. But yes, in that case, she could transport the body _in_ her car. This does make me curious about something else, though. If you tried to drive a person in dire need of medical attention to the hospital, when you could have called an ambulance, then the person died on the way, and it was determined that the person had had a good chance of survival if you had called an ambulance, could you be prosecuted for negligent homicide, or some charge like that? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/9 "2014-07-10T19:12:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’m assuming there is either a typo there, or that English is not the OP’s first language Or the OP is on his or her way to Wally World. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/10 "2014-07-10T19:13:05Z")
Depends on if their is a ‘Good Samaritan’ law there & what kind of jury you get. I suggest to just walk around dead or dying people. Getting involved is frowned upon these days. _snerk_ ---
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/11 "2014-07-10T19:14:12Z")
I think it would be easier to explain a passenger on the front seat rather than in the trunk… ---
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/12 "2014-07-10T19:54:49Z")
I am sorry. There are a few type-os… Notice how close the I sits to the O on a keyboard… I wish I had a better English (and typing skills). Please, forgive me! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/13 "2014-07-10T20:32:11Z")
There was a case a couple of months ago where a guy drove his dead ‘girlfriend’ halfway across the country. Never did find out how it ended, after the initial report. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/14 "2014-07-10T21:02:42Z")
If Mr. Doe passed away in the passenger seat, it seems to me that it would be acceptable for the wife-doctor to take him to the next town, provided that she left him just as he was in the passenger seat. I’m not a lawyer or anything, though, so I don’t really know. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/15 "2014-07-10T22:16:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > There was a case a couple of months ago where a guy drove his dead ‘girlfriend’ halfway across the country. Never did find out how it ended, after the initial report. As of a month ago, [no charges were going to be filed](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/police-no-charges-man-who-drove-corpse). ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/16 "2014-07-10T22:26:11Z")
I was involved with a re-internment of a civil war soldier once. He, err, rode around in the back of my truck (new toe-pincher coffin) for several hours while we got lunch, went to the store, gas, etc, and prepared for the ceremony later that day. Was that wrong? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/17 "2014-07-10T23:33:14Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I was involved with a re-internment of a civil war soldier once. He, err, rode around in the back of my truck (new toe-pincher coffin) for several hours while we got lunch, went to the store, gas, etc, and prepared for the ceremony later that day. > > Was that wrong? Did he complain? ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/18 "2014-07-11T00:58:37Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Or the OP is on his or her way to Wally World. That was also my first thought. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_from\_CB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alex\_from\_CB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_from_CB)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/19 "2014-07-11T01:10:20Z")
Aunt Edna, here… [![](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4LFMcAKL2O8/0.jpg) ](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4LFMcAKL2O8/0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775/20 "2014-07-11T01:24:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The world cup loss was _that_ bad that you are wondering how to transport all the dead people? And apparently the car is so full they have to be strapped on top. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carriying-a-dead-passanger-on-a-car/692775.md?page=2)