Who's at fault?

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 02/03/2018 at 11:28 • Filed to: None

2

22

This video came from another dashcammer in my area. Omaha city law states that vehicles in a funeral procession always have right-of-way, even at red lights. However, almost any procession you see will have at least 3 escort cars, one leading and two more blocking the intersections further along. This is why. Legally, the Mitsubishi would be at fault, but I can totally see where they might not have seen or expected the Malibu to come through, espeically with a view that was at least partially blocked and no escort car present. The poster states that only one escort car was present, and while I don’t know the laws regarding how many are needed, I wouldn’t be too pleased to see this video if I was the funeral home. Mercifully, no collision occurred. Note: In Nebraska, a normal funeral procession is escorted by designated cars, which do have certain privileges of an emergency vehicle but which are not police cars.

SmugAardvark > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 11:32

2

It doesn’t look like the Malibu has it’s headlights on. Isn’t that customary if you’re in a funeral procession?

CompactLuxuryFan > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 11:35

4

Funeral processions should not have any sort of special right of way.

crowmolly > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 11:35

3

Not sure about your area, but here in NJ every funeral procession has headlights and hazards on, and usually stickers on the windshields.

It was not immediately obvious that it’s a funeral procession. If the Mitsu was behind the bus then they had even more trouble.

WilliamsSW > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 11:36

2

I saw a funeral procession for the first time in a while yesterday. EVERY car had orange funeral stickers AND two orange flags on the roof. They didn’t have cars to block intersections (they would need about 8 of them -this was in Chicago proper).

The last car also had a huge sticker covering the drivers door to note it was the last car.

I’m looking at this on a potato but I don’t see much in the way of marking on those cars.

WilliamsSW > CompactLuxuryFan 02/03/2018 at 11:40

4

That gets debated even so often around Chicago but the law says they do, so drivers have to obey it.

Svend > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 11:42

2

In the U.K. funeral processions have no right of way unless they have a police escort so all of this is very foreign to me.

Chariotoflove > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 11:47

2

Technically the Mitsubishi is at fault, as you say. Also, he should have been observing the fact that several cars were coming through a red light. However, those cars didn’t look marked, have flashers, or look like they were processing at slow speed. I’ve been in a couple processions in CT. We had stickers on the windshield and flashers. Plus, we kept pretty close to each other.

CompactLuxuryFan > WilliamsSW 02/03/2018 at 12:00

1

I’m pretty sure the Mitsubishi in this video would have been found to not be at fault. If the law has no other requirements apart from “being in a funeral procession” then it’s clearly a terrible and unenforceable law.

WilliamsSW > CompactLuxuryFan 02/03/2018 at 12:08

1

I don’t know about NE, but Illinois has requirements (see my response to the OP), and yeah, I agree that I don’t see much in the video to ID that as a funeral procession.

I almost wonder if that last car was even part of the procession. I’ve certainly seen plenty of assholes try to squeeze into one in order to run a red light or three.

InFierority Complex > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 12:16

2

Section 35.12.030 of the ordinance provides: “It shall be unlawful for the driver of any vehicle to drive between vehicles comprising a funeral or other authorized procession, while they are in motion, and when such vehicles are conspicuously designated. Funerals shall be designated by the use of funeral flags or lighted headlamps. This provision shall not apply at intersections where traffic is controlled by a police officer.”

Only a few cars in the procession had their lights/ flashers on, and none had any flags from what I see, no officer directing traffic Wouldn’t that make those drivers in the procession at fault?

The Mitsubishi probably should have taken note that multiple cars were crossing a red. However the cars in the turn lane/stopped look like they are blocking view to the procession or they could have been behind that bus that turns right just ahead of them and not seen the cars crossing in the first place.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > SmugAardvark 02/03/2018 at 12:29

0

High beams and hazards, yes, though I doubt that would’ve made a difference here

SmugAardvark > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 12:33

1

Ah, couldn’t really tell from the video. But you’re right, likely wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Thankfully, they were able to avoid a collision.

Rico > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 14:07

4

Is it common for these cars to keep 4-5 car lengths between them when they are running the red light? I think the Malibu (among other cars) was driving at a snails pace.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Rico 02/03/2018 at 14:18

1

Not common

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 15:41

0

I hate funeral processions, so the funeral procession is at fault.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) 02/03/2018 at 15:51

0

Brilliant

facw > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 16:08

2

I’d totally blame the procession. They should have been driving slowly, and way closer together. It should be entirely obvious that they are travelling as a single entity (basically a funeral train), as opposed to just driving normally but going through red lights.

Xyl0c41n3 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/03/2018 at 16:09

1

We don’t have any funeral procession laws here in Texas, but it is customary for a procession to have an escort. Usually, 2-4 cars that continually leapfrog each other to keep general traffic blocked at intersections. And those escorts tend to be county constables, who are licensed peace officers and who drive marked units. The funeral attendees also typically drive with their hazards flashing.

I’ve been to at least one funeral where the church service was dozens of miles away from the cemetery, so the procession had to drive on the freeway, including an interchange. That was massively annoying because the entire procession was going under the speed limit, and then the person in front of me wasn’t keeping up a close-ish enough following distance to the car in front of them, so a few regular cars got into the mix. I had never been to the cemetery in question, so I was worried about getting lost along the way. Basically, if you’re part of a procession, KEEP UP!

Urambo Tauro > facw 02/03/2018 at 20:18

2

Agreed. I see way too many red light runners already in order for something like this to be a sure sign of a funeral procession. You can’t even see hazard lamps from that angle, especially when your view has been blocked by the back of a school bus. They just look like regular left turn signals.

Urambo Tauro > Svend 02/03/2018 at 20:22

1

Yeah, this an archaic law based on polite tradition. If such a bill was introduced for the first time today, DOT and NHTSA would laugh at the notion and tell everybody to just follow directions (GPS or otherwise) if they got separated, and obey traffic rules like everybody else.

Svend > Urambo Tauro 02/03/2018 at 21:18

1

For such a thing to be law is crazy. In the old days it would be one thing but in today’s society it’s another hazard waiting for an incident.

I mean, imagine getting into a car incident on the way to a funeral of a person that jumped a red light.

Urambo Tauro > Svend 02/03/2018 at 21:41

1

There have been enough funeral procession crashes that I wouldn’t be surprised if such a coincidence did indeed happen.