Funeral Cortege on Motorway

samf1971

Can't see a problem with it personally, found this report on a similar incident.

"A lorry driver is due to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after being convicted of dangerous driving. Andrew Rathbone's HGV collided with the back of a funeral cortege, near Sutton Coldfield, killing two people. Mr Rathbone, 42, of Crewe, was found guilty last November of causing the deaths of 17-month-old Georgia Bailey and her grandfather, Nehemia Bailey"

anewman

IMO travelling at 20mph on the motorway is as good as someone building a brick wall across it. When everyone else is doing 70mph, if you're as close as anything to standing still, something is guaranteed to hit you.

darich

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

The police should dealing with those HGV drivers., for dangerous driving. Rule 126 of the Highway Code states "Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear." which those drivers were not doing.

Clearly they WERE driving at a speed that would allow them to stop - because they did and there were no collisions.

The cortege driving at such a slow speed, while not committing an offence is quite obviously a danger to themselves and other road users. They may have been lucky on this occassion but if the name of the funeral parlour is known then a visit to the police may be an idea so the parlour doesn't repeat their actions.

Presumably many drivers were overaking and not queuing behind them? It's not disrespectful to overtake a cortege, in my opinion.

nickj_2

anewman wrote: »

When you're doing the limit, and advancing on a row of cars doing 20mph with a clear road ahead you'll be expecting them to be going a bit faster than 20mph and get close to them very very quickly.

wrong . you should be anticipating and reacting to road conditions ahead of you . for the lorries to have to slam on their brakes suggests that the drivers were not paying attention and probably driving to close to the vehicles in front . if a lorry driver from their high view point can't see obstructions ahead and react to them then they should not be on the roads

vikingaero

nickj wrote: »

wrong . you should be anticipating and reacting to road conditions ahead of you . for the lorries to have to slam on their brakes suggests that the drivers were not paying attention and probably driving to close to the vehicles in front . if a lorry driver from their high view point can't see obstructions ahead and react to them then they should not be on the roads

In that case I could illegally park my car on the motorway, put the handbrake on, and stand on the hard shoulder to watch the ensuing chaos? And my defence if anyone hit my car would be that they should have anticipated a parked car. Motorways are there for high speed transit and anything that doesn't travel at a "reasonable" speed shouldn't be there. That's why we restrict mopeds with small capacity engines and other slow vehicles without an escort from motorways. There's a difference between travelling deliberately slowly and travelling slowly due to traffic conditions.

I think that the consensus here is that it doesn't seem right to travel so slowly on the motorways even for a hearse. I didn't get the funeral parlours name because they don't advertise on the side of the hearse!

iolanthe07

They were probably just early for their 'slot' at the Crematorium.

goldspanners

anewman wrote: »

They could have taken an alternative route. When you're dead do you really want to take the motorway to your final resting place?

does it really matter? your dead anyway!

:A

epz_2

vikingaero wrote: »

In that case I could illegally park my car on the motorway, put the handbrake on, and stand on the hard shoulder to watch the ensuing chaos? And my defence if anyone hit my car would be that they should have anticipated a parked car. Motorways are there for high speed transit and anything that doesn't travel at a "reasonable" speed shouldn't be there. That's why we restrict mopeds with small capacity engines and other slow vehicles without an escort from motorways. There's a difference between travelling deliberately slowly and travelling slowly due to traffic conditions.

I think that the consensus here is that it doesn't seem right to travel so slowly on the motorways even for a hearse. I didn't get the funeral parlours name because they don't advertise on the side of the hearse!

i regularly see traffic jams appear with no notice on the motorway, if you cant stop in time for an obstical with time to see it then you are either going too fast or not paying attention.

fyi i have a pretty flexible approach to speed limits but always ensure i can stop properly.

Lorian

Illegal or not, it can't be wise. If I was the driver of the hearse I'd be worried it was me next.

darich

A cortege on the motorway is perfectly legal and there is no specified minimum speed.

But given that it's against the law for small motorbikes (less than 125cc i believe), pushbikes and mopeds because they cannot travel fast enough, then clearly travelling slowly on a motorway is a danger.

I agree that every driver should leave enough space for braking as several have said, but very few drivers do.
And stating that other vehicles are
going to quick if they have to slam on their brakes is a stupid - the slow moving vehicles i've mentioned are not allowed on the motorway so a driver shouldn't expect to happen upon a 25mph vehicle.

I'd fuly expect if the police spotted a vehicle travelling that slowly, they'd be pulled over and warned. If they couldn't move any quicker then i expect the police would arrange a tow truck to remove them from the motorway for their own safety and of other drivers.