By those I mean the deal where cars drive in a straight line with their lights flashing from the funeral home to the cemetary.
I try and follow the “rules” made up for this, but I rarely see processions, and often forget. And yet twice in the last month I have apparently committed grievous faux pas:
About a month ago I was making a right turn onto a side street that led onto a main street. The street was very busy, but I glanced left, and the car had his lights flashing, and was going very slow. I didn’t even think it might be a funeral, my first thought was “Either he’s hauling something or he’s having car trouble.” Either way, he was far back and I had plenty of time to pull in front of him. I then switched immediately into the left lane (a turning lane) and only then realized it was a funeral procession. Thankfully I was out of the way and I watched as they all went through the light, while it was green, then yellow, then they just kept going while it was red. Other cars waited. No one honked.
Just today I was driving on a back road. This is a 40 mph road. Up ahead of me there is a line of cars turning left, across my lane.
Well a car turns, then the car in front of me goes straight, and then two cars turn in rapid succession in front of me, one of them cutting me off pretty close. I realize at that point it’s another funeral procession, but I am going too fast to stop (not fast, but still around 30 mph), so I go through.
In the line of cars that is turning, the next car waits, while the car behind him attempts to cut in front of me. I hit the brakes, but he stops his car and I go around him. I see he is furious, red-faced, clearly yelling, and gives me both middle fingers. I couldn’t help but think, “Oh, yes, that’s wonderful respect for the dead, flip your lid at some girl driving by.” I passed him, and the guy behind me also passed them and did not stop.
So what are the rules? I try to be polite but we just don’t do this in my culture, since we cremate (and thus all is done right at the funeral home). I’ve never been part of a funeral procession. I try to never get in the middle of them but frankly they are changing the rules of the road and it kind of pisses me off. Driving is dangerous, and it should be predictable and not have people just randomly making up rules.
That doesn’t mean I am on a campaign to get them to stop. I will of course be polite and yield (when I realize what is happening!) but quite frankly I don’t know what the rules are.
I know in the first instance I should not have turned in the middle of them, and that’s fine, but really, all of them driving through the red does not seem safe to me. As for the second instance, was I really supposed to stop and let them all make their left turn? I try to follow what other drivers do but it’s not always clear: see example of driver behind me who also did not stop. Please help my ignorance!
Around here, funeral processions should always have the right-of-way and can go through red lights, assuming the lead vehicle went through the light while it was still green. Since many funeral processions are escorted by police, it’s always a good idea to yield to them.
Please keep in mind traffic laws on this may vary widely. What I stated is merely local custom.
Bri2k
P.S. Kudos to alice for being faster on the reply and with better info.
As I remember it from Drivers Ed…
A funeral procession is to be treated as “one long vehicle”. That is, no cutting through the line, or similar moves. As such, all the vehicles in said procession, with headlights and hazard flashers on, are allowed to proceed through an intersection if the first vehicle (the hearse) did so legally.There may be an exception to this if they would require grater than 5 minute to do so, in which case it’s supposed to be split into 2 (or more) groups.
This is in NY, I believe other states are similar. I know that NJ is.
It depends on the area. When I grew up near Chicago, funeral processions didn’t stop for red lights as long as at least one of the cars had made it through the intersection while the light was still green. If I were going one way on a two-lane street and a funeral procession was going the other, I did not stop. The same applied when I lived in Wisconsin. When I moved to Indiana, I found out that I was supposed to pull over and stop the car if a funeral procession was going the other way. I found out when a cop pointed his finger at me and was upset that I was still driving. I have no idea if it’s a law, but it definitely was the custom. It would be nice if someone would hand out a book of these things when you move someplace. It was not in the rules-of-the-road booklet I studied for my test, however, so I really had never seen it before.
Even if it’s not law, it should be common courtesy to wait a few minutes and let the procession go unimpeded. I know it doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but we had some people cut into my dad’s funeral procession, and it was just something we shouldn’t have had to deal with. It was as if the other guys were saying “Screw you and the dead guy - I’ve got important places to go…”
I think in most cases, drivers are just clueless - they know where they want to go and that’s all that matters. They can’t be bothered with anyone outside their vehicle.
I think there is a substantive difference between “I just don’t care” and “Oops, I didn’t even notice.”
I did find the cite you mentioned. And that cite still doesn’t say anything about running a red light. As I googled, I found a ton of people complaining about it just as I did. It still pisses me off, kind of. There was no reason for that guy to flip his shit. It’s totally not the law to stop and let them all take their left turns on a 40 mph road, and I wasn’t wrong there. And it’s incredibly dangerous and many people say you are not allowed do it in NYC.
And my boss is flexible but I know many people whose bosses aren’t going to say “Oh, funeral procession! No big deal.” Hell, I’ve worked in jobs like that in the past.
ETA: that law won’t be enacted until November:
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.
Is there any reason for you to be so snarky to me? I am asking for advice. Yes, it pisses me off, but at no time have I said “I am totally going to ignore it and do whatever the fuck I want.” I got really annoyed at that guy gesticulating and I am sure that’s not the proper respect for the dead. And of course I didn’t mention to you the times I did realize it was a funeral procession and waited patiently.
Ok, so genuinely asking, how was I supposed to know? The guy in front of me didn’t yield. The guy behind me didn’t yield. The law doesn’t say I have to yield. I’ve never been in a funeral procession. No one gave me a handbook. At what point am I supposed to learn this?
Well now you know, so the situation won’t come up again.
But rather than getting annoyed at a funeral goer for flipping you the bird when you cut off the procession, perhaps think how you would feel if someone barged into the funeral of your loved one asking where the bathroom was.
Anyway I’ve gotten my answer and as you say now I know what to do. It is clear you are just here to criticize me and snark at me, so I will be exiting this thread. Thanks everyone for your help.
In coffinman’s “Ask the Funeral Director” thread, I believe he said that processions running red lights without police escort is a bad idea.
If you see a funeral procession, then yes you should let them go ahead. But if you don’t even see them till the last minute, I don’t see the big deal. There’s nothing sacred about a bunch of cars running red lights. Flipping someone the bird for not screeching to a halt–well that dude needs some perspective. And a map to the cemetery.
Often, it is not clear in any way that it is a funeral procession.
If the black hearse is well ahead, or is a few turns ahead, most processions aren’t labeled as such. While driving, any aware person is going to expect that other drivers are following the same rules they are.
Seeing a random car cutting a turn across oncoming traffic, my first assumption would be ‘driver being agrrssive and being unsafe,’ not, ‘someone on a funeral procession.’
In the funeral processions I’ve been in, we all have our lights on, and were given placards to put in our windshield (although lately it’s been a magnetic flag tp put on our hood), and we stay as close together as we can without tailgating too dangerously. Of course the times the procession has gotten on the Edens or something you just can’t keep together as well, but for non-expressway driving the procession usually stands out as one.
I’m sure it’s not like that everywhere, and if someone in the procession doesn’t keep up then I can understand how it could confuse other drivers.
In 40+ years of driving, I’ve never seen (nor till now heard of) funeral processions with flashing lights. All the ones I’ve seen have their headlights on. With more and more cars equipped with daytime running lights, I can see where there may be a desire for something besides headlights to indicate a funeral procession, but hazard flashers have their own purpose, and I question whether they’re a good choice.
All the processions here in Kansas City have police motorcycle escorts. The officers typically stay in the intersection if there’s a traffic light to make sure the procession goes through and no one else enters the intersection. An officer would been at the type of left turn described in the OP, eliminating the need for anyone to try to figure out what to do. Having the procession turn left on that road without an officer to direct traffic strikes me as quite dangerous, and frankly rather stupid.