Today I left my office around 12:30 to run out quickly and drop something off at my older kids’ school, plus grab a fast sandwich for lunch.
As I headed down Sutherland Avenue in the Bearden area of Knoxville, I saw a hearse slowly leading a funeral procession of other cars – all with white flags, and all with their headlights turned on – coming up the street toward me from the opposite direction.
Without giving it a second thought, I immediately signaled and pulled to the side of the street, stopping my car as a sign of respect, and intending to remain in place until the somber parade had completely passed by.
It never occurred to me that anyone else would do otherwise. This was a city street – not the interstate – and only moderately busy at midday. Nobody was put at safety risk by cars pulling to the side of the street temporarily. Plus, this is just what people do, or so I thought.
However, while one or two other drivers in the block just ahead of me also pulled over as the mourners rolled past, many other cars aggressively sped around those of us who were stopped, trying to get past. Several drivers even glared angrily at me as they swerved by.
And worst of all, the cars behind my own STARTED HONKING AT ME TO GET OUT OF THE WAY. I couldn’t believe if.
This was all happening while the slow line of grieving family
and friends following the hearse attempted to remain together at the same measured pace while traveling up the street in the opposite direction.
To my utter shock, some of the cars swerving to get around me and the few other stopped cars on my side of the street actually forced the funeral cars to pull to their side, and to stop momentarily to get out of the way! My mouth was literally hanging open at this point.
And the honking from behind had me so rattled by that point that I was just about to cave in and start moving again – despite how much I didn’t want to do that – when the last car in the funeral procession went past. So I started back on my way, really shaken by how some other drivers – at least 15 of them – had behaved during the brief time I was stopped to show respect for this dead person and his or her family.
So am I just an old fashioned outlier on this tradition? Does no one stop for funeral processions anymore? Is it possible that this custom is so out of fashion that other drivers actually didn’t realize why those few other cars ahead of me – plus mine – were stopped on the side of Sutherland at midday?
And what about you? Do you pull over or no? Why or why not?
Whatever other people are doing, I will continue to pull my car over whenever possible anytime I encounter a funeral procession. I consider it simple good manners.
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UPDATE: in reading y’all’s comments, I am being educated that this custom is a regional one, which I truly did not realize. So if you are from a part of the country where no one pulls over, my apologies for unintentionally insulting your own customary manners, which are certainly exemplary, even if you are a yank 
Having said that, there’s a big difference between simply not stopping as opposed to honking or forcing mourners to pull over. The former may be a (fading) regional custom, but the latter behaviors are just rude, no matter what zip code you live in.
My 2 cents …
"To my utter shock, some of the cars swerving to get around me and the few other stopped cars on my side of the street actually forced the funeral cars to pull to their side, and to stop momentarily to get out of the way!"
Just to be clear – from what you've written, it sounds like YOU were blocking traffic – and that prompted these cars to swerve to get around you. Why are you blaming them? Exhibit #1 in why stopping for funeral processions is just a bad idea.
It isn't regional thing it is a custom that our great grandparents and grandparents passed down that for many was not passed along from our parents. I have lived all over the US and seen this custom honored. Unfortunately people common decency has gone by the wayside while their selfish actions have taken over. It is really a sad disrespectful world we are raising our kids in. As moms all we can do is be sure to raise our kids with the right values and teach them to respect others.
So I clearly missed some words. Hopefully you get my drift. It seems obvious that or some reason this act of lack of respect got under my skin!
I'm late to this, but yes I was taught to pull over, turn off the headlights and wait until the procession passed. I live in the Maritimes in Canada. That said, my MIL passed last month and we had a 30-minute drive from the service to the graveyard, via the back roads of a rural area. Not one car stopped on the way there. One car even pulled out from a stop sign directly into the procession, right behind the hearse. My husband and I could not believe it when that happened. The whole drive, he kept mentioning that no one was pulling over and it bothered him. The ironic thing was that after we were leaving the burial, then a few cars pulled over. We did get a chuckle out of that one.
My response may make you feel a little bit better: It popped into my head a few months ago that I didn't know whether pulling over for funeral processions was a legal issue or an ettiquette one. I asked three or four people if they knew and they got visibly angry because they thought I was trying to ask whether or not I could just breeze on by because I'm heartless. I'm trying to tell them: no, no, I'm just curious! and they were upset at the very thought that someone would even consider not stopping! Customs regarding funeral processions may vary regionally but where I live in the midwest it's something EVERYONE does. I honestly can't remember seeing people drive past funeral processions. It's that pervasive.
Now, having said all that, there are roads that are simply too busy for it to be safe to pull over and when there is a safety issue, I'd rather people be safe than exhibit good ettiquette and put themselves at risk. The road you describe sounds like it may have been too busy for everyone pulling over to be practical or safe. It takes a lot of roadway for 15 (20 if you count the ones who did stop) cars to pull over and if that many cars pulled through in the time frame that it took for the procession to pass–the people who passed you may have simply made that judgment