AIBU to overtake a hearse?

[confusedabouthormones]

So today on the way home from school I had just pulled onto a dual carriageway and there was a hearse with some cars behind it. They were going to a near by crematorium. I pulled into the outside lane and drove past it.

My mother was in the car and she had a right go at me for being disrespectful and how she was embarrassed to be in my car. When I looked in my mirror no one else had passed the hearse.

Is this a thing? In my 30 odd years driving I've never heard this.

Was I being unreasonable to pass the hearse?

Of course it's OK to overtake if you're on a duel carriageway 😆 It's not against the law, OR disrespectful. The parallel world of Mumsnet strikes again. In real life - everyone does this! (On a single track road too if it's safe/convenient.)

However, If the crem had been 'nearby' I might have waited. Was 'nearby' 100 yards, or 2 miles? They go very slow, so if they didn't appear to be leaving the road anytime soon, then yes I would overtake. Not at great speed, or with death metal playing, but I would overtake yes.

If I couldn't do it without cutting into the procession then I would stay put, but tbh it's never happened. I have overtaken a hearse quite a few times - on its own, on the way to pick up the funeral guests. But only a procession a couple of times, and that was on a long straight road. It was doing 10-15mph. Nothing wrong with overtaking! I'm not staying behind a hearse and a funeral procession when it's going 10-15mph!

Upshot is, there is no law against overtaking a hearse - or a funeral procession. 'Etiquette' is not LAW.

If anyone in MY car had said they were embarrassed to be in my car, I'd stop the car and tell them to get the fuck out and walk. Your mother was the rude one @confusedabouthormones

This is your local route, yes? So you know it presumably. Other drivers coming into the area will not necessarily be as au fait with it as you are so would see the markings for dual carriageway and drive accordingly, not knowing that it is a 60 second road length.

If it's busy and the drivers can't see what is going on ahead, just that traffic has slowed, they will assume you're all wanting to turn left and will overtake. I would. I'm not an arse anymore than I suppose you are, but I'm also not blind to the fact that not everybody has in-depth knowledge of every road layout.

IMO it is. I am 70 and been to a few funerals. On "local" roads you follow, let them into or of out of side turnings and so on. On dual carriageways, mororways etc, fine to pass them although not, of course, cut them up

No I wouldn't overtake even in a dual carriage way.

I remember letting a hearse out on a junction once and didn't want to get stuck in the middle of the family cars. I had to let about 15 cars go. I remember thinking I should never have let the hearse out !

https://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/advice/funeral-procession-etiquette/

So you wanted to overtake the hearse…

I know someone who failed their driving test for not overtaking a hearse during the test.

A very short dual carriageway I would hang back for a hearse but a major A road then no.

It is done and there is nothing wrong with it

Dual carriageway - no problem. I would overtake.

So you wanted to overtake the hearse…

What? How did you get that from my post?

I slowed down and stopped to let the hearse out at a busy junction.

No issue on a multi lane DC. I probably wouldn’t drop a couple of cogs and nail it though!

No, she would have been in front of the hearse having not let it out of the junction.

I would say dual carriageway was fine at a steady pace.

if I saw someone overtake in a residential area that's pretty well known etiquette so I think I'd try and give them benefit of the doubt and assume it was maybe a say a hospital doctor on call or a&e run (maybe not a blue light emergency but life needing to be prioritised over respecting the dead).

Don't feel like a douche OP, there are mixed feelings on it and you didn't know anyway. I would assume the young lad in the Fiesta years ago had no idea either.

We once travelled hours through huge delays to a relative's funeral and were very stressed about being late when we encountered the hearse on a dual carriageway only a few miles from the chapel! I decided overtaking at a respectful speed whilst hoping we weren't recognised was better than arriving at the funeral after the deceased.

I have driven hearses in the past and I regularly had to drive to crematoria that were just off motorways or dual carriageways. Imagine the chaos if all the traffic in the other 2 or 3 lanes decided to not pass the hearse for 6 or 7 miles. Of course it's fine to pass a hearse on a motorway or dual carriageway as long as it is done without drawing attention to yourself.

I once overtook a couple of hearses and the following entourage many years ago - It was too late to pull in by the time I'd realised - I still feel terrible about it some 25 years later.

@Anisty but if you go past at say 40, and someone comes flying behind you at 70, you risk an accident? Yes you should be respectful but you can't put others at risk

Not at great speed, or with death metal playing, but I would overtake yes.

😁

They generally drive at 40mph, rather than the 20mph they would do in town.

But she’d have been in front of it so the same thing.

A hearse might not even be transporting a body, just driving from one place to another.

A bit of grim humour there, people doffing their hats to an empty hearse.

On a dual carriageway it is absolutely fine!

You don't overtake a hearse, it's disrespectful. Thought it was common knowledge ?