Slowing down for a hearse?

[WrendaleCountryDogs]

Growing up, my mum always slowed down when driving and a hearse was coming the opposite direction. As a result, I do the same.
Do you?? I've never seena nobody else do it.

What you definitely don't want to do is cut into to a funeral procession. This happened to us at DGM's funeral. We were in an ordinary car between 2 funeral cars. The funeral director had hoped that this would make it clear that we were part of the procession. We got a bit strung out at a big roundabout, and a bin wagon overtook us. The procession from then on was: Hearse, funeral car, funeral car, bin lorry, our ordinary Skoda, funeral car.

Not sure what it's called but if the hearse is still moving slowly like they do at the start of the journey I'd stop and bow head if on foot and slow down if driving in the opposite direction if its safe to so so.

Once they're moving at normal speed on a main road I'd treat as any other car apart from making sure I didn't break up the procession.

I always bow my head if driving, and if walking I was stop and bow my head, years ago I worked with a guy who would have been late teens then, he sometimes asked me for a lift into town at lunch if I was going and if we passed a hearse (drive involved passing two funeral directors so it was fairly common) he always took his hat off.

I would never break into a funeral procession if it could be avoided, and would give way to a hearse/procession, but I would overtake on a dual carriage way.

If walking and I saw a hearse I would stop and bow my head as a sign of respect, but haven't had to do it for years. If there was a hearse at a neighbours I would go out and stand, head bowed to pay my respects. As someone who has been in a funeral car a few times it is a bit surreal but comforting seeing others paying their respects.

The two funerals I’ve been to in my IL family have been the same.
Small service in a small church followed by the crematorium. Hearse taking the deceased to the crematorium.
Except…. There is quite a distance in between, timing is tight. Cue for a mad rush from one to the other, hearse spending down small country roads at 50~60mph and us struggling to keep up (well actually not keeping up. No way I’d ever go at those speeds!) behind it.

No slowing down for the hearse here!!

Sorry speeding not spending….

When i was in the funeral car for my MIL's funeral, i noticed quite a few people who were walking, stop and bow head until we were past. Including a few who stayed like that the entire time stopped at lights etc.

Was never something i had seen before (first funeral in a city rather than rural area where i grew up, so no pedestrians) and it really moved me and will stay with me.

I don't have a car, but I will cross myself when I see a cortege. When we held my mother's funeral, we drove along the service road outside her house and several of the neighbours had pulled their curtains... it was something that my mum always did. As we left the church to go to the cemetary, one of the old neighbours, waved to her with her hanky as we set off... that almost did for me.

I would slow down too if I was driving past as a mark of respect. It's only for a moment so doesn't disrupt traffic. If I'm walking I always stop and bow my head.

I would overtake on a dual carriage way.

I would've thought I would, too, but turns out when absolutely nobody else is doing so, it's incredibly difficult to be the one who breaks out!

@Ablababla Wonder if your mum knew the rhyme,
Hold your collar
Don't swallow
Never catch the fever
(Collar and swallow rhymes where I am)

Probably dates back to plague times or something, when holding your collar might have covered your mouth and stopped you catching germs from the deceased.

I've told this story on here before. My husband and I were late leaving for my elderly great aunts funeral... DH was driving through the country lanes and we came up behind the hearse.. I was begging DH to overtake as I didn't want to be late. He refused point blank so we crawled along till we got to the back drive of my Dad's farm... I told DH to turn left
.. We rocketed through the farm yard and up the other drive... There were two roads to the church the hearse went one way, us the other... We got to the church just before the hearse and ran breathlessly up the path like Charles and Scarlett in Four Weddings... We burst through the door and earned a VERY hard Paddington stare from my Mum!!!

I was out running recently, coming up to a zebra crossing (had headphones in and concentrating on running rather than anything else), I could see out the corner of my eye that the car approaching the crossing was going slowly so I carried on across, just assuming it was a normal car. Part way across I turned towards the car and realised it was a hearse that had stopped for me - I was absolutely mortified! But it made me wonder, would you expect a hearse to stop at a zebra crossing? If walking I would definitely have stopped and expected it to carry on without stopping for pedestrians?

Yes I would expect it to stop for pedestrians. It’s a car like any other.

At my dad's funeral I had an executive Uber to follow the hearse and official funeral cars because we have a lot of family and the cost!

The one on the way there was so lovely and stayed in the procession. The one on the way to the crem went flying round a roundabout and overtaking the hearse. Tbf we were in stitches it was a very funny moment on a horrible day.

To be honest it wouldn't occur to me to slow down or stop walking for a hearse and I've never seen anyone else do that either. I've seen a few on my commute to work and all the cars just bomb it past.

Quite regular around here. The horses are just gorgeous

Not quite the same, but I've overtaken an ambulance that had flashing blue lights on a motorway, it was doing less than 50 mph in the 'slow' lane. I did feel a bit awkward about it (still do, now I think about it) but it was miles to the next exit and I didn't know if it would even leave the motorway there.

You just jogged a long forgotten memory of mine with that! At school we used to do, "touch your collar, not your nose, hope I never end up in one of those" For sirens and hearses.

I am Irish and it's still definitely the done thing in rural Ireland. And I think it probably also happens in small towns, think more doubtful in the cities. When my mum died a couple of years ago, we walked behind the hearse from our house to the church and once we were out on the public road the traffic stopped for us. I guess the cars behind had no choice really and coming the other way, I remember the first vehicle we met was an articulated lorry who stopped and bowed his head in the cab. So I guess anyone coming behind him didn't really have any choice, but to stop either! Because it's accepted practice, no one really minds and quite often in the towns or busier areas you will actually find the police stopping traffic or waving processions on through traffic lights etc.

Yes, I do. And if I’m walking I stop and remove my hat. It’s sad that you even need to ask. Our world is becoming so crowded, noisy, greedy, selfish and fast-moving, that we’re losing the old world rituals and manners. (Or what I would call civilised behaviour.) It’s so sad. Pretty soon, there won’t BE any civilisation, just money and greed.

Once when an elderly relative died we gathered at the house with other family members before going to the crematorium. The nearest crematorium was 20 miles away down the motorway. The hearse and the immediate family left first in the family funereal cars and then the rest of us followed in our cars and we were the last to leave in our car. Unfortunately there was a traffic incident before getting on to the motorway which affected us, but not the rest of the party. My dad was quite concerned that we were going to be late for the service, so he was driving quite fast in the outside lane of the motorway only to his horror to look over and see the line of family cars behind the hearse in the inside lane! He didn't really want to overtake, but he wasn't really in a position where we could do anything else!

I wouldn't slow right down if I was in the opposite lane- just because I'd feel like I was rubbernecking- slowing down just to have a stare at the hearse. Driving slower near them doesn't seem like a sign of respect to me though.

I do stay well back if If i drive up behind one

Yes we do that. People on the streets stop and bow heads maybe it's a regional thing?

Here you don’t pass the hearse driving on the opposite side of the road, you stop and let the hearse drive past you.