Light decision won’t impact road rules for funeral processions, city police say
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/06/2010 (5830 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
New rules from Manitoba Public Insurance have cleared the way for the lead car of a funeral procession to legally bear a flashing purple light to alert motorists to an oncoming motorcade of mourners.
But that doesn’t mean that all other protocols on the books regarding funeral processions go out the window, says Const. Greg Anderson with the Brandon Police Service’s traffic division.
As per Brandon’s existing traffic bylaw, the lead car in a funeral procession must still stop at all red lights or stop signs and only proceed through when safe. Then, and only then, should subsequent motorists in the procession drive through behind the lead car.
However, once the procession begins, all other crossing traffic has to yield to it.
"That means (a procession) could go through a red light and a person coming in the opposite direction on a green light has to yield to the funeral procession," Anderson said. "If there was a collision, the person going through the green light could be charged.
"All of the vehicles that are in the funeral procession are required to have four-way flashers on and their headlamps lit … that’s how you would know it’s a funeral procession," he added. "Plus, now you will see the lead vehicles with their flashing purple lights on top."
Also under the city’s bylaw, motorists who become separated from their procession must turn off their flashers and headlights and proceed through traffic normally until they can catch up to their group.
Brockie Donovan Funeral and Cremation Services has been using such purple lighting on a number of their cars for several years, with permission from the city police service, says president, Wade Lumbard.
"We’ve found it’s the best means of drawing attention to the procession," he said. "Some of the processions are quite long and if you don’t see the first three or four cars that are obviously funeral home cars, you might not know that it’s a procession going through. With the purple light, you can obviously see it for a much longer distance."
Another funeral home in Brandon, Memories Chapel and Pre-Planning Centre, says while they’ve never used the purple lights before, they are definitely considering it now.
"We use a flag instead of a light," funeral director Brent Buchanan said. "Because it hasn’t been recognized in the province, we never felt a need to go there. But now that they’ve recognized this, I think that’s a positive move and we would have no problem going in that direction."
Meanwhile, a representative with Reflections Funeral Home in Brandon tells the Sun the red and amber flashing lights they use work just fine and have no intention to switch to purple.