§300.3.  Funeral processions

A.  As used in this Section, the term "funeral procession" shall mean two or more vehicles accompanying a deceased person or cremated human remains during daylight hours.

B.  Except for an authorized emergency or law enforcement vehicle making use of audible or visual signals, or when directed otherwise by a law enforcement officer, pedestrians and operators of all motor vehicles shall yield the right-of-way to each vehicle participating in a funeral procession.  However, the operator of a motor vehicle may pass a funeral procession which is traveling in the right lane of a divided highway, multiple-lane highway, or interstate.  If the procession has a police escort, whenever the lead vehicle in a funeral procession lawfully enters an intersection, the remainder of the vehicles in the procession may continue to follow through the intersection notwithstanding any signals from traffic control devices.  A motor vehicle participating in a funeral procession shall not leave the procession while it is traveling unless specifically permitted to do so by a law enforcement officer or by making a right turn out of the procession.  No motor vehicle which leaves a funeral procession shall be permitted to rejoin the procession.  The operator of each vehicle participating in a funeral procession shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any other vehicle or pedestrian upon the roadway.

C.  No person shall operate a vehicle in a funeral procession unless the  headlights of such vehicle are lighted and its emergency lights are flashing.

D.  This Section shall not create a cause of action or substantive legal rights against any funeral home, its director, or any of its employees or agents, or any law enforcement agency or officer.  Furthermore, a funeral home, its director, or any of its employees or agents, or any law enforcement agency or officer shall not be held liable for a violation of this Section if the operator of a motor vehicle fails to exercise due care while participating in a funeral procession.

E.  Whoever violates the provisions of this Section shall be assessed a penalty of one hundred dollars for each violation.

Acts 2006, No. 751, §1, eff. June 30, 2006; Acts 2010, No. 257, §1.