Hearses Touting for Business

[GJD]

I mean no disrespect to the departed or their family and friends.

On my drive to work this morning, I encountered a hearse with half a dozen other vehicles behind it doing no more than 30mph on a free-flowing motorway. I needed to be in lane 1 to take the next exit (as the hearse and queue did). As it happened, I was paying as much attention as I am supposed to pay, and managed the hazard without any drama. But while one can argue that any driver paying attention should be able to cope with such a hazard, we know that sometimes people drive on autopilot a bit, and I find this extreme violation of the principle of least surprise to be unnecessarily hazardous and completely unwarranted. The closest I have ever come to being involved in a multi-vehicle collision on a fast dual carriageway was down to a hearse doing 40 amongst rush hour 70mph formation driving. I can only think that they do it in a bid to drum up a bit more trade. If I ever get round to writing a will I shall stipulate that anyone driving me from A to B will not do so in a manner that presents completely avoidable hazards to innocent road users around them.

Rant over.

[Susie]

Only notionally on topic, the undertaker who took a relative on her final journey was known for his 'use of speed' in his private vehicle, an ageing but beaufifully maintained Jaguar S type. Regularly seen blatting the byways of Buckinghamshire at a goodly pace - as he put it, he needed to let off a bit of steam after driving at the 'respectful pace' expected for funeral processions!

BTW, there's a funeral director in Middlesex called Mr Sydney Hurry

[kfae8959]

Yikes! I'm guessing they were heading to Cambridge City Crematorium / Huntingdon Road Cemetery, where the only access is from the A14. In my experience, funeral directors don't take the cortège on motorways and dual carriageways if they can help it!

David

[GJD]

Yikes! I'm guessing they were heading to Cambridge City Crematorium / Huntingdon Road Cemetery, where the only access is from the A14. In my experience, funeral directors don't take the cortège on motorways and dual carriageways if they can help it!

Nope. It was on the M11 at Duxford. The queue behind wasn't a cortège, it was just the five or six unrelated cars and vans that happened, like me, to be taking that exit at that time. I didn't know the cause was a hearse until I started to pass the queue on the exit slip road and could see the leading vehicle.

(The other one I referred to - that nearly caused a big pile up in rush hour - was on the A14 at Cambridge so could well have been going where you suggest).

[ROG]

I am going to get berated for this -

I cannot see any justifiable reason why they cannot keep to speed limits

Awaits incoming........

[ExadiNigel]

There appear to be a lot of people out there that think you should NOT overtake a hearse out of respect! I have received a few unfriendly posts on ADI forums when I suggested that I would NOT wait behind and would overtake if it was safe to do so!

Sometimes I wish we still wore hats so I could doff that as a mark of respect but I see no reason why me going slow shows respect to anyone. Besides, I shouldn't think the corpse would give a toss!

Nigel

[lyndon]

Sounds to me like a case of 'Hearses for curses'. Didn't the driver know that undertaking on lane 1 of a motorway is can be dangerous!

[daz6215]

Sounds to me like a case of 'Hearses for curses'. Didn't the driver know that undertaking on lane 1 of a motorway is can be dangerous!

Only one way to the undertakers,.... undertakers!!!

[kfae8959]

The queue behind wasn't a cortège, it was just the five or six unrelated cars

I'll take your word for that, but bear in mind that there may be many private vehicles following a hearse if there has been a funeral at a church, synagogue, mosque, gurdwara, or other public place of worship and the committal follows at a crematorium or cemetery. You wouldn't necessarily be able to identify those vehicles as part of the cortège, but it's worth keeping in mind that hearses travelling funereally are often at the head of a convoy.

David

[Octy_Ross]

I wouldn't argue with the Reverend Jolly on this one Gavin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDaNIdmV-Y

[Horse]

The queue behind wasn't a cortège, it was just the five or six unrelated cars

I'll take your word for that, but bear in mind that there may be many private vehicles following a hearse if there has been a funeral at a church, synagogue, mosque, gurdwara, or other public place of worship and the committal follows at a crematorium or cemetery. You wouldn't necessarily be able to identify those vehicles as part of the cortège, but it's worth keeping in mind that hearses travelling funereally are often at the head of a convoy.

And the approach to an exit slip would be a likely place for the hearse driver to slow, waiting for other mourners to catch up, to ensure none missed the exit - it's quite likely that many weren't local.

So perhaps not totally unnecessary or unwarranted, albeit perhaps unwise.

As an aside, have you ever seen video of the Met's SEG motorcyclists at work? They actually travel very slowly most of the time, with the intention of keeping the group together and rolling. OK, different reasons - but it shows that 'our' normal driving perceptions don't always 'understand' and allow for others' actions.

[Flexibase]

I sympathise entirely wih the original concerns and certainly query any low speed funeral convoy on a motorway.
However, an interesting article, which includes the idea of all convoy cars displaying window fixed black flags, from a funeral director's perspective recently appeared in Driving Insructor" magazine. It is reproducd on my web page at https://sites.google.com/site/tunefultubes/ (scroll down to find it) with the consent of the DIA.

[fungus]

I sympathise entirely wih the original concerns and certainly query any low speed funeral convoy on a motorway.
However, an interesting article, which includes the idea of all convoy cars displaying window fixed black flags, from a funeral director's perspective recently appeared in Driving Insructor" magazine. It is reproducd on my web page at https://sites.google.com/site/tunefultubes/ (scroll down to find it) with the consent of the DIA.

Yes, I saw that in the Driving Instructor magazine. The issuing of black flags to those in the cortege sounds like a good idea to me. It would alow other drivers to identify those in the cortege and not risk getting in between them.

[Horse]

As a slight aside, I once saw a rider 'marking' an exit from the M4 for a convoy of riders heading towards an event. In other words, he had stopped on the hard shoulder to indicate that they should leave the M-way at that exit . . .

[ExadiNigel]

....As an aside, have you ever seen video of the Met's SEG motorcyclists at work?....

No but we had a talk at one of the IAM meetings by an officer from West Midlands I think about the VIP escort team. Very good talk was that one.