How Safe are Funeral Processions?

By Grant McKenzie

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.

To address these concerns about twenty years ago our firm began placing cards in visitation rooms and on register book stands offering suggestions for driving as part of a funeral procession and stating that it was illegal to proceed through stop lights and signs.

Several concerns still need to be addressed.

1. Identification of Funeral Processions: Unlike the red lights of emergency vehicles (police, fire, ambulance), amber lights do not provide the identification funeral processions desperately need. Purple is not being used for any other purpose in North America. It is distinct, visible and also a color long associated with funerals. The highway traffic act prohibits the use of red lights except for emergency vehicles and blue lights except for snowplows. Amber can be used by anyone. Several Lambton County funeral directors and all the funeral homes in Sarnia were quick to adopt the purple light program.
   
   We learned several things from our trial usage. A light, which combines both rotating halogen lights with strobe lights, is highly visible. It's also noisy on the inside of the car and in cold winter weather; the rotating feature tends to be sluggish. Multiple flash strobe lights are quieter and also very visible. During trials we observed that purple lights seemed to get quicker reactions from other drivers (probably because of curiosity) and also because the multi-flash feature is more visible than our old single flash amber strobe.
   
   Despite the lights on the lead vehicle, most drivers don't react until they see the funeral coach. I would recommend that purple strobe lights be attached to the roof of the funeral coach for maximum visibility. They are usually one of the highest, most distinct vehicles in a procession. Vehicles further down the line become less recognizable because funeral flags or banners tend to be hard to read or recognize. Thus purple Strobe lights on every tenth or fifteenth vehicle would increase safety and recognizability. This coupled with magnetic door signs with a minimum four-inch high letters "FUNERAL" on either side of the lead car, in addition to headlights and the use of four way flashers, will greatly increase visibility.
   
   
2. Education of drivers in processions: This can best be achieved by providing every driver with a card outlining the law and important tips for safety as well as verbal announcements to drivers prior to leaving the funeral home or place of service.
   
   
3. Education of the public: We began this process last summer with T.V. news stories about purple lights on CFPL T.V. London and CKCO T.V. Kitchener and written reports in the Sarnia Observer, Sarnia This Week and Business Trends magazine. More press releases are planned.
   
   
4. Training for the drivers of escort vehicles: If the escort is a police vehicle, all concerned need to know that once the police escort passes through the intersection the following funeral procession is unprotected. If drivers in cross traffic have a green light they will likely notice only the green light not the funeral cars in the intersection and thus will drive blindly through. Police assistance needs to involve control of an intersection until all funeral procession vehicles have passed through. It doesn't necessarily have to be a formal arrangement, but police officers encountering a procession should be encouraged to take control of the intersection.
   
   
5. Funeral home personnel driving escort vehicles need to be trained to observe intersections some distance ahead. Watch for flashing "don't walk" signs as an indication that the light is about to turn red. Vary your speed so that you are able to stop for red lights then start up again when the light turns green... A full green light gives the best opportunity for most funeral car drivers to clear the intersection. If the light turned green before you are near the intersection slow down to catch the red light and allow stragglers to catch up. Watch other drivers, catch their eye, and don't pull away from an intersection controlled by STOP signs or traffic lights until the cross traffic has stopped. Remember the platoon effect. The cars at the end of a procession must drive faster to keep up. Therefore the lead vehicle should be driven at least 10 km/h less than the posted speed limit.