Cop was wrong, you don’t have to pull over facing a funeral procession

[Minnesota!]

I'm 48 years old and I've maybe seen one funeral procession in my entire life. Where are people running into all these funeral processions?!!

Wow - I see probably a handful a month, pre-COVID.

 

[gotomu212]

The last 3 funerals I was at, all in different states, only the immediate family (widow and adult children) received the funeral placards on their windshield and all of us were told by the funeral home that we must obey all traffic laws and did not have the right of way at stoplights. I asked the second one about it since I remember long processions in the past and was told that laws and liability concerns had changed. They only did a formal procession for 2-3 cars now and the hearse could judge traffic and lights to keep them together, but anything longer and there were too many accidents and close calls.

Not saying this is universal, but also may be one of the reasons I don’t see funeral processions anymore when I used to see at least one a month (worked down the street from a funeral home).

 

[EACarlson]

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and have lived in the Green Bay, WI area for the past 25ish years. The one procession that I do remember is from my time living in the Chicago burbs. Otherwise, nada.

It's Green Bay, everyone leaves the funeral and goes to the bar.
(I'm in Oshkosh, same thing.)

 

[amcnj]

I'm 48 years old and I've maybe seen one funeral procession in my entire life. Where are people running into all these funeral processions?!!

It can also depend on where you live and travel. For example, being near a cemetery, or funeral home, or often on roads that take people from more populated areas to where the cemeteries are located. Also some may be during weekday hours, so not seen by those keeping 9-5 commuting times.

 

[goofyernmost]

To be fair, there's also no law against farting in an elevator full of people either...but I'm gonna make a bold statement in saying I totally get to say that not farting in an elevator full of people is the "right thing".

Not a good comparison. If you fart in an elevator you affect whomever is in the elevator with you. You would be upsetting others. Traveling in the opposite direction of a funeral procession is not disrespectful to anyone. Cutting in front or into the line would be disrespect. However, I doubt the main person in the procession will be bothered by it either way.

 

[Jennasis]

Not a good comparison. If you fart in an elevator you affect whomever is in the elevator with you. You would be upsetting others. Traveling in the opposite direction of a funeral procession is not disrespectful to anyone. Cutting in front or into the line would be disrespect. However, I doubt the main person in the procession will be bothered by it either way.

 

[Turn the Page]

When I lived in Kentucky I learned that it was legally required to pull over for emergency vehicles only if they are going in the same direction you are but traffic in all directions must pull over for the ENTIRE funeral procession. You can't move until the rear police car passes.

I always found that so odd.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

When I lived in Kentucky I learned that it was legally required to pull over for emergency vehicles only if they are going in the same direction you are but traffic in all directions must pull over for the ENTIRE funeral procession. You can't move until the rear police car passes.

I always found that so odd.

State law, county law, city law? Can you point me to where it's written?

 

[CO2CA]

Yes I live here and people don't know how to merge. Drivers don't change lanes to let the oncoming traffic merge either. It drives me crazy.

Here they speed up into the natural gap between cars so you can't merge. Then have the nerve to go by, look at you and smirk lol

 

[Turn the Page]

State law, county law, city law? Can you point me to where it's written?

Nope. Sure can't. I guess it is the custom down there but isn't a law. I was under the impression it was.

 

[DisLiss]

Around here we don't see actual processions as much as we used to. By that I mean that some funeral homes have stopped using the signs on the cars to signal a procession and they've stopped asking us to use our four ways. I guess with ever increasing traffic, it has become more dangerous to have an actual procession. So while everyone still leaves for the cemetery at the same time, they don't seem to want to call attention to them anymore. And I can see where that can be confusing for other drivers on the road. They may wonder if they should behave as they've done in the past and let everyone by, but it's hard to tell who is part of a procession now. So that can leave people wondering if the change in practice means you should just go about your day? It's hard when customs change because the changes don't always come with some big announcement to clue everyone in, and not everyone changes at the same time, if at all.

 

[Heather07438]

Here in NJ if you stopped going the opposite way of a funeral processions folks would honk, get out of their vehicles and move your car for you.

I was thinking the same^

But seriously, the roads are already over congested certain places and times of the day. Gridlock happens. Having disruptions in traffic flow can also lead to unsafe conditions. I've never seen or heard of anyone getting pulled over for it around here. This is my first encounter with the suggestion of pulling over in the opposite direction of a procession. There is well observed etiquette not to cut in.

It's not viewed here as a lack of respect the way it seems to have been said of other areas, probably because it's just not feasible. In the southern half of this county around 10 people die everyday within a 10x10 mile area. That would cause quite a ruckus trying to put the streets on hold every morning/mourning. Beyond that it could also be less expectation that everyone must to abide to the same traditions to the point you could be pulled over for not following along, especially in the absence of a written law.

 

[leebee]

In Maine we don't normally pull over for an approaching funeral procession. However, I've seen it happen once on the interstate. A state trooper was killed in the line of duty. There was a family service for him in Norridgewalk, but his official "state" funeral was being held at the Cross Center in Bangor. I was driving north on the interstate that day when I noticed that all the overpasses were lined with cops, firemen, and ambulances. I realized that they were there to pay tribute to the trooper as he took his final journey north to Bangor. I stopped at a rest area and waited for the procession to pass, and noticed that traffic on BOTH sides of the interstate was stopped in honor of the trooper's life and service to the state. It was pretty moving.

 

[VandVsmama]

Hey Karen so was the person in the hearse. Very very disrespectful & narcissistic.It costs you a minute of your life
Sometimes the right thing to do costs you a minute of your life.

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to attack the OP. Congrats.

 

[ronandannette]

When I lived in Kentucky I learned that it was legally required to pull over for emergency vehicles only if they are going in the same direction you are but traffic in all directions must pull over for the ENTIRE funeral procession. You can't move until the rear police car passes.

I always found that so odd.

What’s odd is that all your funeral processions have police escorts. Don’t your police have actual police things to do? Here it would never happen, unless there was some sort of security concern or maybe if it was a state funeral for a high ranking official of some sort. I’ve certainly never seen such a thing in all My years. Similarly, our fire department doesn’t get kittens out of trees either.

 

[mjkacmom]

What’s odd is that all your funeral processions have police escorts. Don’t your police have actual police things to do? Here it would never happen, unless there was some sort of security concern or maybe if it was a state funeral for a high ranking official of some sort. I’ve certainly never seen such a thing in all My years. Similarly, our fire department doesn’t get kittens out of trees either.

Ours have police escorts, I assume off duty making some extra money.

 

[monkeydawn]

We were in a procession in Indiana. Very small because of COVID-19. Four lane divided highest- everyone stopped in opposite direction, nobody passed on our left. Must be regional thing.

Im from IN as well and always pulled over for them, lived in both the northern and southern part of the state. Ive also lived in NY and NC and it was not common in either of those places. I still pull over if traffic conditions allow for it, I always turn my music off.

I will say that IN was my earliest experiences, then NY, then NC so there may be some time differential that is playing just as important a part as the location.

I had an experience with this recently. I was driving on a main two-lane road at about 55mph. Came around a curve and a car pulled out directly in front of me. Another person pulled out behind me. They were honking, rolled down their window to flip me off, and continued to rev their engine and tailgate me like crazy the rest of the way. I figured out it was a funeral procession once I noticed that every time we passed a car in the opposite direction they were pulled off into the grass.

I'm sure it was rude of me to drive through/divide a funeral procession, but unless I saw the first car how would I have any idea that some random person pulling out in front of me was part of a funeral procession? I think someone driving along at their pace and maybe saying a prayer for the dead would be way more respectful than honking and swearing.

As for the people pulling over on the other side of the road... it was absolutely pouring, so it was very dangerous for the cars coming up behind them to have to slam on their brakes and pull over as well. Several people also got their cars stuck in people's yards because it was so muddy.

My guess is between the rain and the surprise of what was happening you missed the placards/ flags/ magnets that were handed out to the processional. Ive never been in a funeral processional without some identifying marker, though some have been way more obvious that others. We always have our flashers on as well. This is through at least 4 different states and different areas in the states so kind of a wide variety of experiences.

I do agree though that people have to do what actual road conditions warrant as the safest course.

And to be honest, when I am in the processional, other than intersections I dont even notice if others have pulled over. But I still do it when I see one if I can do so safely.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Hey Karen so was the person in the hearse. Very very disrespectful & narcissistic.It costs you a minute of your life
Sometimes the right thing to do costs you a minute of your life.

It's disrespectful and narcissistic to not pull over while a funeral procession is going past you on the opposite side of the road?

I will never understand people that think that their way is the only way and people that do things different are wrong... or in this case narcissistic and disrespectful

 

[Heather07438]

The only reference to funeral processions in NJ is N.J. Stat. § 39:4-93
New Jersey law states that if any procession takes longer than five minutes to pass a given point, it must be interrupted every five minutes for waiting traffic. (That's it, the sole reference to processions.)

The ambiguity of the law was interpreted by a New Jersey court in 1978, which concluded that it was not intended to give a funeral procession a preferential right-of-way, nor did it take precedence over the requirement to stop for a red light. The case arose when a driver entering an intersection under a green light collided with a member of a procession who had entered against a red light. Pohi v. Topal, 383 A.2d 435 (N.J. Super. 1978).
^From https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2014/07/03/251323.htm which outlines differing laws across the 50 states.

From https://www.ginsberglaw.com/blog/2018/01/new-jersey-funeral-processions-must-obey-traffic-laws/

• If traveling the opposite direction, you need not stop or pull over. In fact, it increases the chances of getting rear-ended.

 

[cabanafrau]

What’s odd is that all your funeral processions have police escorts. Don’t your police have actual police things to do? Here it would never happen, unless there was some sort of security concern or maybe if it was a state funeral for a high ranking official of some sort. I’ve certainly never seen such a thing in all My years. Similarly, our fire department doesn’t get kittens out of trees either.

Here in metro Detroit area police escorts are not a regular thing, except in extraordinary circumstances. For example, Aretha Franklin's funeral procession had a police escort.