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Funeral Processions - People Don't Give a F Anymore? (1 Viewer)

ClownCausedChaos2

ClownCausedChaos2

Footballguy
I was driving in a funeral procession for the first time in years.  People were cutting into it, cutting through it at intersections, throwing their hands up in the air.....cars in the procession in front of me almost got hit three times in a fifteen minute procession from the funeral home to the cemetery.  

Take it easy, people.  Folks just lost a loved one.  Don't be a jerk.  You can be 30 seconds late to wherever you're going.

 
I went to one in Tennessee a few years back, smaller town but not super small (they had a Walmart)

anyway people actually pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the procession to go by, like even oncoming traffic.  Was a nice gesture but not what I was used to seeing

 
I saw one that almost caused an accident.  The funeral procession, which was mostly normal cars with no markings, was going right through red lights. If I came up to that intersection, I would have never know it was a funeral procession (I was parked on side).

 
eoMMan said:
I saw one that almost caused an accident.  The funeral procession, which was mostly normal cars with no markings, was going right through red lights. If I came up to that intersection, I would have never know it was a funeral procession (I was parked on side).
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This. A lot of times those outside of the procession don’t even know there’s one going on.  There’s usually a funeral procession car, (looking like a cop car), with lights and driving like it’s an extra in the Dukes of Hazzard. The procession is running red lights, cutting people off and destroying traffic. Look, I get the respect for the dead thing, I really do, but some of these processions are downright dangerous with how they think everyone will realize who they are and just yield. The other point I’ll make is that those attending a funeral have the time off to do so while the rest of the world is trying to go about its day with work, kid stuff and going about their day. 

 
Thunderlips said:
Nope.  Doesn't jibe with the "Me,Me,Me" mentality of a lot of Americans today.  The irony though...is that alot of those same people would be complaining about a lack of respect in this country if it happened to a funeral procession they were in.  
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I think moreso is that our previous generational courtesies haven't been passed on. If you want to call it common sense, ok. 

I mean is it wise to text and walk across a street like a zombie?

Is it polite to swear repeatedly at any public place such as movie theater or restaurant?

Should you get mad at a funeral procession?

Apparently the current answer is yes.

 
I agree...people are so impatient now.    

Cremation is the way to go.  My wife and I have already made our wishes clear.

 
They have gotten dangerous since a lot of people have no idea what they are supposed to do.  I don't remember hearing about the funeral procession "rules" in drivers ed.

With everyone having GPS i'm not sure they are worth the risk in current times. 

 
Ketamine Dreams said:
This. A lot of times those outside of the procession don’t even know there’s one going on.  There’s usually a funeral procession car, (looking like a cop car), with lights and driving like it’s an extra in the Dukes of Hazzard. The procession is running red lights, cutting people off and destroying traffic. Look, I get the respect for the dead thing, I really do, but some of these processions are downright dangerous with how they think everyone will realize who they are and just yield. The other point I’ll make is that those attending a funeral have the time off to do so while the rest of the world is trying to go about its day with work, kid stuff and going about their day. 
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They really should require two of those wannabe cops on motorcycles, one to lead and one to sit at the intersections.

 
I work near a gigantic burial ground. I see all sorts of reactions to a procession. From honking and cutting people off to going overboard and getting out of a car and putting hand over heart. In traffic. That hasn't stopped.

 
I'm sort of a traditionalist and think processions are part of life, but it sure does inconvenience one to be caught behind one or at an intersection, etc. 

It might be a good idea to reserve them for public figures and to also use well-marked cars so that people know what the heck is going on. 

Come to think of it, they are kind of a bad idea. I just talked myself in a semi-circle on that one. Carry on.  

 
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When I die, I just want everyone to meet up at the cemetery.  And if they can't figure out how to get there without being escorted, I don't think I'd want them coming in the first place.  I've always prided myself on being a courteous driver.  The last thing I want to do is annoy a bunch of people on my last trip. 

 
In our part of the world these days waiting for a funeral procession isn't considered instant gratification.  And people tend towards the rude side anymore.  

 
Da Guru said:
I agree...people are so impatient now.    

Cremation is the way to go.  My wife and I have already made our wishes clear.
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I've seen a lot of processions to a cremation.  There are also no-procession funerals.  Alot depends on whether the family wants to put on a show at a church about baby jesus and all that bull####.

 
I don't think it's super reasonable for your average joe baby boomer that drops dead to have a 20 mile procession.   Just tell people to show up at the burial in an hour or so.  I mean this seems to work for weddings, amirite?

 
eoMMan said:
I saw one that almost caused an accident.  The funeral procession, which was mostly normal cars with no markings, was going right through red lights. If I came up to that intersection, I would have never know it was a funeral procession (I was parked on side).
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But if you see multiple cars going through slowly with their lights on its easy to figure out. It's not like 1 random car is barreling through the intersection.

 
Pipes said:
But if you see multiple cars going through slowly with their lights on its easy to figure out. It's not like 1 random car is barreling through the intersection.
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No. Theses cars weren't going slow (at least 35 MPH) and didn't have lights on.

 
culdeus said:
I see a couple of these everydays, hazzards are the new "lights on" for jesus.  
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Are funeral processions strictly a religious thing? You've made a couple of barbs about people making a show for jesus in this thread, but I guess I wouldn't assume Christians are the only people who use funeral processions.  

That said, I would agree that a 20 mile funeral procession is perhaps not reasonable and inconsiderate of all the other drivers just trying to go about their day.  But I'm guessing (strictly a guess) that most processions are pretty short and I can take an extra 30 seconds out of my day to allow a group of mourners to get to a cemetery safe and as a group. 

 
WhatDoIKnow said:
I blame it on automatic daytime running lights.  It used to be if you saw a bunch of cars in a line with their lights on during the day you knew it was a funeral procession.  Now most newer cars have their lights on I think.
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the funeral home near me gives everybody Big Orange Flags to attach to your window

 
We just buried my wife's grandmother, she was 102, she lived in Ontario Canada in a town of about 30k so not very big but not tiny either.  People were extremely polite and actually pulled over to the side of the road.  I'll be honest, I did not expect that, I was expecting people to be upset/rude but, yeah, I thought that was very cool.

 
FBG26 said:
Are funeral processions strictly a religious thing? You've made a couple of barbs about people making a show for jesus in this thread, but I guess I wouldn't assume Christians are the only people who use funeral processions.  

That said, I would agree that a 20 mile funeral procession is perhaps not reasonable and inconsiderate of all the other drivers just trying to go about their day.  But I'm guessing (strictly a guess) that most processions are pretty short and I can take an extra 30 seconds out of my day to allow a group of mourners to get to a cemetery safe and as a group. 
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A procession is absolutely a religious thing.  The whole point is to get you from the church to the ground.  

And I would disagree, you need to consider the sum of the impact to all parties.  30s out of everyone's day is a lot of time. Bearing witness to probably thousands of these, maybe 5000, it's a huge time suck way more than 30s a shot.  I am an outlier of sorts being right next to like a 80 acre site that is very active, but it's pretty easy to become resentful of the whole thing when everyone has GPS now.  I probably get hit with perhaps 10 minutes a month of my time stopped down.  I'm used to it and I like having the cemetery there to walk around in when the weather is nice, but it's still annoying.

 
culdeus said:
A procession is absolutely a religious thing.  The whole point is to get you from the church to the ground.  

And I would disagree, you need to consider the sum of the impact to all parties.  30s out of everyone's day is a lot of time. Bearing witness to probably thousands of these, maybe 5000, it's a huge time suck way more than 30s a shot.  I am an outlier of sorts being right next to like a 80 acre site that is very active, but it's pretty easy to become resentful of the whole thing when everyone has GPS now.  I probably get hit with perhaps 10 minutes a month of my time stopped down.  I'm used to it and I like having the cemetery there to walk around in when the weather is nice, but it's still annoying.
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What about processions from funeral homes to cemetery?   No church..

 
shuke said:
I just think people don't know the accepted "rules".
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This. A cpl weeks ago I was taking my mom to an appointment early on a Saturday morning when I saw a cpl police motorcycles with flashing lights coming in the opposite direction. I immediately pulled to the side of the road and stopped as I thought that was the protocol that drivers were to do anytime any first responder had sirens flashing. I was probably one of 5 cars that did that. Dozens of others just drove like nothing was happening.

 
belljr said:
What about processions from funeral homes to cemetery?   No church..
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I don't think this is common for my situation, but I guess it can happen.  There is a funeral home on-site at the one next to me.  In a situation where there isn't one on site I suppose this could be the reason for the migration.  

 
Not really relevant to the rude drivers to procession conversation, but this thread brought up a funny memory... and it also involves being rude... When my uncle died a few years ago a bunch of my hillbilly family came from Kentucky. The showing was at a church and one of ny uncles from Kentucky got in trouble for smoking in the church. Twice. After the funeral,  we were all lined up at the cemetary to leave. We were behind the same smoking uncle. He proceeded to open his car door and dump a giant ashtray all over the cemetary drive. My wife looked at me and said "DID I JUST SEE WHAT I THOUGHT I SAW???". I just chuckled and told her in my best Kentucky accent,  "Honey, we is what we is."

 
culdeus said:
I don't think this is common for my situation, but I guess it can happen.  There is a funeral home on-site at the one next to me.  In a situation where there isn't one on site I suppose this could be the reason for the migration.  
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Thats pretty much 75% of the funerals I attend here :unsure:

 
A PSA on proper funeral procession etiquette hosted by The Undertaker and Paul Bearer could have been truly epic, but, alas, Bearer is no longer with us.

 
On a related note I walked thru this one day and they were digging a grave.  There was a cop there, armed, and things looked to be off a bit.  I didn't know WTF was going on so I asked one of the workers.  

They were doing a semi-exhumation where they were "stacking" the grave.  In some situations the graves have multiple bodies all stacked in and this process can lead to grave robbing so they post guards.   

After googling these stacking graves are way more common than I would have thought.

 
shuke said:
They really should require two of those wannabe cops on motorcycles, one to lead and one to sit at the intersections.
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Around here (New Orleans metro), nine out of ten funeral processions will have multiple cops escorting. For the processions that have several cops on hand, they'll NEVER go through a red light without two or more cops stopping cross traffic first.

I think sometimes, people don't arrange for a police-escorted funeral procession and they try to do the whole thing "unofficially". People driving alongside will almost always yield and be courteous of an unofficial procession (a long chain of cars following one another with their headlights and/or hazards on). However, such unofficial processions don't get automatic right-of-way at intersections, either socially or legally. If the cross streets aren't particularly busy, and the lead drivers in line at the cross streets figure out what's going on ... yes, the unofficial procession might get waved through the entire way. Much more commonly, though, the unofficial procession gets broken up by red lights into several smaller processions.

...

I agree with some of the takes above that while such processions are a nice tradition, they are nowhere near as necessary today as they were before smart phones and GPS. I do understand that a small minority of drivers simply don't do maps or spatial anything, and really can't get around the corner in an unfamiliar town without following someone.

 
When I die I would like to be cremated and could not give a rat's behind what's done with the remains.  

But... this thread has given me a great idea.  I now what a day-long funeral procession back and forth through the city, running lights, hazards, clown cars.  Hire drivers and drag it out all day.  Maybe have the casket fall (shoot?) out of the back of a hearse at a major intersection once or twice.  I want it so crazy local news stations call in the helicopters for overhead shots.

 
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