Do Mississippi drivers have to yield for funeral processions? Here’s what’s allowed
If you’ve ever been in a funeral procession on the Mississippi Coast and appreciated seeing vehicles yield the right-of-way to you and the rest of those in mourning, you may appreciate it even more after learning what the law says on the subject.
As it turns out, yielding the right-of-way is more about respect and southern hospitality than abiding by the law. Mississippi has never passed a law saying you have to pull off the road or move out of your lane to allow a funeral procession by, even if the parade of cars is led by the flashing lights of law enforcement.
As recently as 2022, state legislators tried to add a law to the Mississippi Code to cover yielding the right-of-way to any funeral procession of “two or more vehicles.”
The proposed law would have included provisions for procession escorts and those who drove in the procession.
Here’s what was proposed in the failed state senate bill
- Create a new section to the Mississippi code to give funeral processions the right-of-way
- Authorize drivers of the emergency vehicle escorting a procession to cautiously skip stop signs and red lights
- Allow processions escorted by law enforcement to pass through intersections, regardless of stop signs and traffic lights
- Permit emergency escort vehicles to drive up to 15 miles per hour above the speed limit in order to overtake the procession and direct traffic at the next intersection
- Allow the use of government sanitation trucks or post office vehicles to flash hazard lights to warn drivers to decrease speed to avoid colliding with the procession
A 2022 bill proposed by the state house of representatives specified the responsibilities of anyone in a funeral procession to maintain safety standards, but also made it a misdemeanor subject to a $100 fine for anyone who failed to yield the right-of-way. HB255 was introduced in the regular session, but died in committee.
A similar bill proposed in 1998 made accommodations for funeral processions. But it also proposed making it a misdemeanor subject to a fine of up to $25 for any driver who failed to yield the right-of-way.
Don’t get too far out of the habit of yielding to funeral processions. Once you leave state lines, you may end up in a state with a law on the books. Louisiana, Tennessee and Georgia have laws that give the processions the right-of-way. In Florida, vehicles and pedestrians are legally required to yield.
This story was originally published May 31, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
