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?

Nearby is relative and could mean 10, 15, 20 minutes away. I think the police would take a dim view of cars creating traffic by following a hearse on a dual carriageway, which is designed for overtaking.

I wouldn’t.
You said the crematorium was nearby anyway. What was the big rush?

And? They're dead.
They can go at a normal speed.
And not hold up traffic.
People have places to go.

To some people it is necessary

This makes me sad to think another thoughtful action is being dismissed

Crawling along a dual carriageway is incredibly dangerous

Dual carraigeway is fine IMO.

From what I have seen of hearses these days they tend to go slow during the first bit away from the house, then they tend to go at a more normal speed, but may well slow down at lights etc to keep the procession together.

I think overtaking them during the slow bit is disrespectful but the slow bit shouldn't last for long. You shouldn't really need to go past them otherwise, but if it is a multi lane road then fine.

Eh because someone's body is in the coffin in the back ffs, what a stupid comment. Would you want your loved one being rattled around in their coffin.

There's no issue with the hearse and cortege going slowly but there's no reason for non-relevant traffic to follow suit and it can be dangerous. Better for people to move out of way for the hearse etc. to continue its journey at conventional pace.

It's that persons last ever journey and you couldn't wait 5 minutes?

It was my father in laws funeral on Thursday and we didn't even notice people overtaking on the dual carriage way. We did notice when a van cut between the hearse and the limousine. That wasn't nice at all.

I don't know how many funerals (especially of close friends/family) you've been to but it matters to the mourners

And unless you're in an ambulance or fire engine you're not more important than they are

Rattled about?
They can go at a normal rate. They choose not to under the guise of respecfulness.

I quite fancy my last journey having a bit of excitement

Ridiculous anyone thinks you shouldn't overtake on a dual carriageway.

I've been in a funeral car on the motorway. The idea that hundreds of cars should all stay in lane 1 doing whatever speed we were doing is ludicrous.

OP you did absolutely nothing wrong.

On a dual carriageway it’s perfectly fine. Ridiculous not to. On a local rd generally not.

Undertaker's daughter here - this is correct. And yes, definitely be mindful at junctions you don't 'nip out' and get between the hearse and cars.

And actually, we don't know how fast the cortege was going.

The OP didn't mention the speed or saying they were crawling

Although I highly doubt they were doing 60...

It's convention not to.

Mind you, when we were in the mourners car following MiL 's hearse to the crem, we all got stuck behind a bin lorry. So had to go even slower than normal as they didn't let us pass. It lightened the mood as we were all laughing about how funny she would have found it.

I’d overtake on any road op.

You only see hearses going slowly not crematorium vans or private ambulances so dead bodies must be transported at speeds above 15m per hour when no one’s looking and then slowly driven to the crem when the family’s there.

It’s cheered me right up though the thought of your poor mum hanging her head in shame as you sped past a hearse and mourners she doesn’t know from Adam.

Not necessary for everyone. We can all have our opinions. There is no right or wrong here.

But equally, they are not more important than anyone else on the road.

Yes I would over take on a dual carriageway. I would have been worried to be driving so slowly on a dual carriage way, especially if I was the one at the back.

My grandads funeral procession went down a dual carriageway. People overtook us; we didn’t not feel disrespected. On a dual carriageway it’s fine.

My husbands nan had a very big family. There were a lot of us following behind her hearse on regular roads with various junctions and roundabouts. No one split up the funeral procession. Which I was quite amazed by, a lot of us were in regular cars so it’d be hard to tell who’s part of the funeral and what’s normal traffic. I wouldn’t have felt annoyed or disrespected if someone got it wrong.

I probably wouldn’t overtake on a duel carriageway if it was very close to the cemetery but I think it is ok to. Definitely not on a single carriageway though. I was stuck behind a hearse on my street for quite a while a few weeks ago waiting for the family to get in the limo and then they had someone walking ahead of the hearse until they got to the end of my road. I could have easily squeezed past them but I felt that would be disrespectful so I just waited patiently.

It's ok to overtake on a dual carriageway - but maybe don't burn past them in a tearing hurry. Not ok on smaller roads and never split to limousines and hearse.

We live on a local route to a fairly busy cemetery and my DH is in the military. If he sees a hearse go by when he's walking to work in uniform he will salute and the chief undertaker will generally acknowledge with a nod of his head. If out of uniform DH will stop and briefly bow his head. I would do the same. Again this courtesy is generally acknowledged by the undertaker/funeral director.