To have slowed down and given plenty of space to a funeral procession?

[create]

This happened last week and I'm still unsure If I did anything wrong/right?

I remember when I was young my Dad always stayed behind a hearse and if a he was a pedestrian would stop with bowed head until it had passed.

I was driving to work on a dual carriageway and was overtaking in the outside lane. Belatedly, I realised that the cars along side me were the hearse and mourners', so I slowed to about 50mph and left a space of about 100yd (20secs?) before pulling in in front of them. Before I could pull in however, I was overtaken on the inside by a van, with the driver waving his fist and yelling at me.

If I'd realised what it was I wouldn't have overtaken in the first place, but was what I did so bad? FWIW all the women at work said I did the right thing, the men weren't so sure

OP you absolutely did the right thing as most others have said, it also makes the mourners feel just a little bit better and the worst times of their lives. When we were in the funeral cars for my baby niece, who died suddenly, people saw the tiny white coffin, stopped still and bowed their heads and noone tried to pass the cortege. Several people did that.

It's so disrepectful to cut up or overtake a cortege in the way you describe.

White van man at his or her worst.

Hmmm. I'm on the fence. I think you should show respect to a funeral procession by not pulling out in the middle of it or whatever, but I am not sure that overtaking at 50 rather than 60 makes any difference (although I do agree that you were right to leave some space before pulling in front of it).

The van driver sounds like a twat but if he was overtaking behind you and you suddenly slowed down (and you don't know if he saw the hearse any earlier than you did) he was going to be pissed off.

hmm, maybe eurochick, but I don't think I suddenly slowed down, didn't brake or anything, just stopped accelerating. His objection was that I'd left the space, he was indicating clearly that he felt I should have pulled in sooner

Sorry but safety comes before respect - you should probably have pulled in sooner.

Think you were in the wrong, sorry. While don't agree with the aggression, fist waving etc. you did create the situation.

You should have completed the manoeuvre you started really. To slow down half way through was dangerous and contributed to the other driver taking the actions he did. He should not have undertaken you, but nor should you have slowed down.

On balance YABU, yes.

I wonder what he was planning to do with that extra 3 seconds he'd have had if you'd pulled in earlier? It doesn't sound like you were causing any danger by your behaviour. His undertaking wasn't in any way justified or your responsibility.

Some drivers are arseholes.

The only possible excuse the other driver could have had to undertake would have been if the op had braked suddenly and he had to take evasive action to avoid rear-ending her. It doesn't sound like that was the case from what the op's said.

Sorry, you haven't answered why you didn't just carry on in the outside lane for a while? Were you about to come off at a junction?

I suspect the fist waving and undertaking was generated by the OP staying in the overtaking lane longer than he deemed necessary. He couldn't have known that she was leaving what she deemed a respectful distance before pulling in. For all he knew, she was going to sit there doing 50 until whenever!

He still sounds like a twat though.

IMO you were in the wrong to slow down in the middle of an overtaking manouevre in the outside lane of a dual carriageway.

Unless you doffed your cap, genuflected, or made the sign of the cross while passing, I can't see how the mourners would have recognised that your slowed speed was an indication of respect - they may have assumed you were a disrespectful gawker.

The guy in the van was completely in the wrong to overtake in the inside lane but, unless you were gawking, surely you saw what he was up to in your rear view mirror and could have increased your speed or moved to the inside lane earlier.

I think you did the right thing. At my SFILs funeral earlier this year people were trying to cut between the hearse and the funeral cars at roundabouts. Yes you have the right of way according to the highway code if you are coming from the right on the roundabout but manners cost nothing.

People have no respect for funerals any more. Its the same mentality that the rioters had.

As a result of a discussion I had when I was trying to pass my driving test I understand that if you don't cut between cars in a funeral procession when it's your right of way e.g at a junction or roundabout you can be failed for hesitating / not spotting that it is your right of way. It's the examiners discretion so if he or she is not respectful of funerals they may not appreciate your manners in holding back. If that is true it is awful. Just discussed it with DH who doesn't think that cutting in is wrong unless the undertaker is walking at the head of the procession, making it the most solemn part if you like.

yanbu, I always wait for a hearse and thier family to pass it is out of respect. The way I look at things is that I will obviously be (and have been) in that situation and hopefully people will show my family and I the same respect. As for the van driver he was a twat and has no respect

You still overtook it, you just overtook it slowly. I think there's a difference between overtaking on a single carriageway (suggests impatience) and overtaking on dual carriageway. I wouldn't do the former but I do the latter ad I live fairly near a crematorium on a v busy major road.