Funeral Processions: Do they have to stop at red lights?

[Led Zeppelin]

So, I'm out getting a bite to eat when I come to a red light. I'm second in line, so not really paying too much attention to the crossing traffic as there was a truck in front of me. So, our light turns green, the truck goes, and all of a sudden he slams his brakes on and just barely avoided a car that ran the red light that was in a funeral procession. I was far enough back that I avoided rear-ending the truck, but I also had to slam on my brakes. The kicker is, the idiots in the procession had the nerve to blare their horns at us, like WE were at fault!!!! Correct me if I'm wrong, but If I recall correctly, funeral processions have no special rules of the road, and are required to obey all traffic laws.
There had to be at least 50+ cars in this line, so there was no way I was going to be "courteous" and let them go, especially when I'm in the middle of the intersection.

 

[alien42]

usually there are cops with the procession who block traffic at intersections. at least in the city.

 

[natto fire]

OMG, you just get your license? Or are you really that dumb. I was told there was a time (when people were more respectful) that people would pull over to let them go by as you are supposed to do with emergency vehicles. (You did know you have to pull over for emergency vehicles right?)

 

[Conky]

There isn't a cop in the country who would give tickets to a funeral procession. They should've had a police escort though.

 

[Sphexi]

Cars are cars, unless they have special flashing lights then they gotta stop just like everybody else. Even if they have special flashing lights, they have to be involved in an emergency situation to use them, and if the guy is already dead it ain't no emergency.

 

[ThePresence]

The Funeral Procession is an organized, dignified, solemn and respectful parade for the purpose of conveying the deceased and mourners from the place of service to the cemetery or crematorium for a committal service. Recent increases in average road speed and traffic volume have given rise to concerns about the safety of mourners in processions and other motorists who encountered funeral corteges. Funeral directors adopted the practice of placing funeral flags on mourners' cars and asking drivers to turn on their high beam headlights. Many funeral directors add amber caution lights to their lead cars and in some cases to their funeral coaches. In metropolitan areas police escorts have become commonplace.

Intersections controlled by stop signs or traffic lights present not only the problems of dealing with cross traffic, but also the problem created by the platoon effect. A procession pulling away from a traffic control intersection with the lead car traveling at a steady 40 km/h results in drivers of cars at the end of the line traveling at speeds often in excess of the speed limit to try to keep up. Furthermore, recent proliferation of daytime running lights for cars have made it more difficult for motorists to distinguish an oncoming funeral procession from other traffic.

In the past, most police officers have turned a blind eye to funeral processions proceeding unencumbered through intersections against red lights or without all cars stopping at stop signs. This is clearly illegal and an unsafe practice and has resulted in the occasional accident and regrettably some deaths.

Text

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
OMG, you just get your license? Or are you really that dumb. I was told there was a time (when people were more respectful) that people would pull over to let them go by as you are supposed to do with emergency vehicles. (You did know you have to pull over for emergency vehicles right?)

It's a goddamn dead body! Who the hell cares? It's absolutely fundamentally wrong to give them right of way, especially with this as an example. Do we want more dead bodies? Making the roads less safe is stupid.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I don't know about CT, but in Ontario, funeral processions either have to obey traffic signals (as a whole - if there are 2 cars at the end of the line that don't make the light, they are allowed to proceed through) or they need a police escort. I remember reading some article where a procession got T-boned running a red and they were charged. Also a whole horde of red-light tickets.

- M4H

 

[oogabooga]

a funeral procession drove by but they had non-police motorcyclists stop the intersections - which actually annoyed me greatly. If you're going to do it fine, if you're going to have the police do it fine, but i'm pretty sure dressing up like a cop and riding little white mopeds and guiding traffic (while more considerate than no consideration) is illegal... more so.

anyway i'd show respect for the recently passed =\ What's with this "Heaven forbid i lose 2 minutes of my life - i'd rather interupt those grieving their losses..." Risking an accident to make a point doesn't seem to smart anyways.

 

[fishface313]

dead people have some funny laws just for them...i was watching that show family plots... the one girl was saying how it is a federal offence to say a curse word in front of a dead person...now that is stupid if you ask me

 

[Led Zeppelin]

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
OMG, you just get your license? Or are you really that dumb. I was told there was a time (when people were more respectful) that people would pull over to let them go by as you are supposed to do with emergency vehicles. (You did know you have to pull over for emergency vehicles right?)

It's a goddamn dead body! Who the hell cares? It's absolutely fundamentally wrong to give them right of way, especially with this as an example. Do we want more dead bodies? Making the roads less safe is stupid.

I agree. I'm not going to address Capt. Howdy's rant with one of my own though as I just came off of a two week vacation, and don't want to serve another (even though I'm itching to tear him up).

 

[Led Zeppelin]

Originally posted by: oogabooga
a funeral procession drove by but they had non-police motorcyclists stop the intersections - which actually annoyed me greatly. If you're going to do it fine, if you're going to have the police do it fine, but i'm pretty sure dressing up like a cop and riding little white mopeds and guiding traffic (while more considerate than no consideration) is illegal... more so.

anyway i'd show respect for the recently passed =\ What's with this "Heaven forbid i lose 2 minutes of my life - i'd rather interupt those grieving their losses..." Risking an accident to make a point doesn't seem to smart anyways.

Yeah, like I said, I wasn't even aware there was a funeral procession going by until I saw the truck slam his brakes on. If I had been first in line at the light, I probably would have just waited for them all to pass. I'm not that much of a disrespecting a-hole.

 

[Jack Ryan]

If the first car is already through the light then just wait for them, if the first car blindly goes thorugh intersections, that is just wrong.

 

[Analog]

If you're in Michigan, they DO have the right of way:

257.654 A funeral procession has the right of way over every other vehicle, except emergency vehicles.

http://lab.oit.cmich.edu/raistlinjones/driving-laws/michigan/

 

[Analog]

A couple of other good ones:


257.634 You must drive on the right side of the road, unless passing.

257.636 If someone is passing you, you may not increase your speed until they have completed the pass.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I don't know if it varies from state to state, but in WI they can go through the lights. I think the law is that every car in the procession has to have their headlights on, and have the little flag on their car/truck's antenna to show they are part of the procession.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Maryland law:

HOUSE BILL 328

1 Article - Transportation

2 21-207.

3 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, a funeral procession

4 facing a red signal may continue through or make a turn at an intersection if the first

5 vehicle in the procession already entered the intersection before the signal changed

6 from green to red.

7 (b) While a funeral procession is proceeding through a red signal as permitted

8 by this section, a vehicle that is not in the procession may not enter the intersection,

9 even if it is facing a green signal, unless it can do so without crossing the path of the

10 procession. When the red signal changes to green while the funeral procession is still

11 within the intersection, [any] A vehicle facing a green signal may proceed, but the

12 funeral procession has the right-of-way.

 

[Malak]

Whoever came up with these laws has no right to be making laws.

 

[Parrotheader]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
OMG, you just get your license? Or are you really that dumb. I was told there was a time (when people were more respectful) that people would pull over to let them go by as you are supposed to do with emergency vehicles. (You did know you have to pull over for emergency vehicles right?)

Yeah those days are rapidly disappearing unfortunately. We had a police escort for my grandfather's funeral (and I'm pretty sure Alabama is a state where funerals are given right of way) but people would still try to cut in. You could actually see a notable difference in manners though as you drove from the city to the country (as was the case for this funeral as well as my grandmother's funeral a few years prior.) In the city, some (but relatively few) people pulled to the side of the road. Totally understandable in a lot of instances where traffic was heavy and I honestly didn't notice it at first. But once we got into the country, almost every single car pulled over out of respect.

 

[gabemcg]

Originally posted by: yellowfiero
If you're in Michigan, they DO have the right of way:

257.654 A funeral procession has the right of way over every other vehicle, except emergency vehicles.

http://lab.oit.cmich.edu/raistlinjones/driving-laws/michigan/

Yeah, the gist is, The Hearse is the only car that cannot go through a red light. If the hearse goes through a light when It's green, and then the light turns red before the end of the procession, the rest of the procession may go through the red light, so as not to break up the line of cars, potentially losing people who are in town from far away for the funeral, and not familiar with the area.

Makes sense to me... I think the truck was just a dumbass, and they were right to honk...

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Cars are cars, unless they have special flashing lights then they gotta stop just like everybody else. Even if they have special flashing lights, they have to be involved in an emergency situation to use them, and if the guy is already dead it ain't no emergency.

Wrong. The first car in a funeral procession cannot run a red light, but if the first car goes through the green then the entire procession goes through un-interrupted. It is illegal to interrupt a funeral procession.

In conclusion, you people are idiots if don't know this.

ZV

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
There isn't a cop in the country who would give tickets to a funeral procession. They should've had a police escort though.

:thumbsup:

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Malak
Whoever came up with these laws has no right to be making laws.

Why, exactly? As long as the first car is through the light before it turns red, it is not a dangerous situation. Anyone can clearly see a continuous line of cars proceeding through an intersection. Forcing them to stop would cause the procession to become disrupted, and it would put non-procession cars in the middle of the procession.

I have no problem with showing a little respect for the dead and grieving.

 

[natto fire]

Originally posted by: Led Zeppelin

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
OMG, you just get your license? Or are you really that dumb. I was told there was a time (when people were more respectful) that people would pull over to let them go by as you are supposed to do with emergency vehicles. (You did know you have to pull over for emergency vehicles right?)

It's a goddamn dead body! Who the hell cares? It's absolutely fundamentally wrong to give them right of way, especially with this as an example. Do we want more dead bodies? Making the roads less safe is stupid.

I agree. I'm not going to address Capt. Howdy's rant with one of my own though as I just came off of a two week vacation, and don't want to serve another (even though I'm itching to tear him up).

bah, send it in PM. I don't care, "tear me up"
I wasn't trying to imply that it was a law, it is just out of courtesy. Like I said though, courtesy is going down the tubes so these responses are not suprising in the least. And I really don't see how this is making the roads more dangerous. I don't know about where you live, but around here it seems like everyone is on the road just to occupy space, or testing if it is actually possible to drive with their heads up their @sses. Much more dangerous than a few people driving through a red light. (which happens a lot here too BTW)
Hell, lets just shoot the corpses out of a cannon towards the graveyard. I'm a cremation person myself, so none of this really applies to me.

Funny story though, I saw a guy pull half way into an intersection before a funeral line, he stopped and backed up. Well after they got by, he forgot to put his car in a forward gear and came inches from backing into the car behind him. Give yourself a pat on the back if you guessed he was elderly...

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
OMG, you just get your license? Or are you really that dumb. I was told there was a time (when people were more respectful) that people would pull over to let them go by as you are supposed to do with emergency vehicles. (You did know you have to pull over for emergency vehicles right?)

It's a goddamn dead body! Who the hell cares? It's absolutely fundamentally wrong to give them right of way, especially with this as an example. Do we want more dead bodies? Making the roads less safe is stupid.

Some day that dead body will be your mom, or dad, or sister.
Then lets see the tune you sing.