I went to get gas in the GBF truck the other day, and as I was exiting 41 and entering the Lloyd, I saw a funeral procession coming up on the Lloyd. I was on the entrance ramp so I pulled to the right and stopped as they passed.

I watched the hearse, police escorts, and about 6 cars with flashers and orange flags on their cars pass by.  Once they passed I signaled to enter onto the Lloyd and made my way into traffic.  I was going to be exiting in a mile so I just hung back behind the funeral procession, until my exit came up. There were about 4 cars between me and the procession, all those cars ended up taking the same exit as I did, so it was nice to see them hang back and be courteous as well.

As  I was getting ready to  exit, I watched as one car CUT INTO THE PROCESSION because their exit was coming up.  I saw the last car with flashers on and a flag on their car slam on their breaks as a car cut in between them and the car in front of them. I said a few choice words under my breath and exited, feeling genuinely saddened by what happened.

We've become so busy and wrapped up in our own lives that we sometimes forget there are other people who are also just trying to get by in their own day to day lives.  I'll be honest when I was entering the Lloyd and saw the funeral procession, my first thought was "of course! I'm already running late,"  but as I pulled over and stopped, and watched the hearse and mourners roll by, it hit me.  This is an otherwise normal day for me. At this moment all of my loved ones are doing okay.  Whereas these folks are literally in the process of dealing with a loss of a loved one.  My heart sank and I felt guilty for my first initial reaction. The least I could do was be respectful of them and their grief.

Now don't get me wrong, there were several other cars who pulled over as the procession went by, and several behind me who did the same and hung back behind the procession until their exit came up.  So I don't want to discount those who were respectful of the procession.  However after seeing the amount of people who maybe just didn't know proper etiquette, I figured hey, why not write up a post to remind people of how to be respectful when encountering a funeral procession.

According to FuneralWise.com, they suggest following these rules to be respectful to a funeral procession:

  1. Yield to the funeral procession.  Even if they are going through an intersection and the light turns red, the procession is allowed to continue. So even though your light may be green, wait for the entire procession to pass through.
  2. Look for the last car in the procession which will typically have two flags on it, once it passes normal traffic flow can resume.
  3. Don't cut into the funeral procession.
  4. Don't honk at the funeral procession.
  5. Don't pass on the right, unless the funeral procession is in the far left lane.
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