Does Your Teen (or You) Know the Five Minute Law?

Last Friday, my husband and I attended a funeral in Pennsylvania.  While my brother-in-law (who knows that I blog about teen driving) teasingly remarked that I not write about the unsafe operation of a hearse, it was my husband who prompted the subject of this week’s post.  As we were traveling from the funeral home to the church in a well-marked procession (every vehicle displayed a bright yellow “funeral” placard along with its flashers and headlights), he asked, “Can I go through the red light?”

An interesting question and one that I bet most novice drivers and veterans as well can’t answer.  According to New Jersey law (N.J. Statute 39:4-93), if any procession takes longer than five minutes to pass a given point, it must be interrupted every five minutes for waiting traffic.  Hmmm... now five minutes doesn’t seem like an awfully long time to wait, but if you’re sitting through several cycles at a traffic light, that five minutes can seem like an eternity (particularly if you’re running late).   As I write this, I can just picture that impatient motorist drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and mumbling under his breath as car after car travels through the intersection.

But I also think that common courtesy should prevail.  So I called my longtime friend and teen safe driving colleague, who has been working in law enforcement for more than three decades, to ask what is standard operating procedure when it comes to funeral processions.  He explained that funeral directors typically notify police when a procession will involve twenty or more cars.  (The National Funeral Directors Association even has a model funeral procession statute.  Who knew?)  The funeral home director details the route, including the signalized intersections the procession will be proceeding through, while police (if available) are then stationed at these intersections to provide traffic control.  The key, he explained, is that the officer supersedes the traffic light, so motorists must obey his or her  instructions. 

My colleague also stressed that a motorist driving in a funeral procession may not run a red light.  If the motorist does and it results in a crash, that motorist is at fault.   In fact, there is precedent for this.  In Pohi v Topal, the court ruled that the “five minute” law wasn’t intended to give a funeral procession a preferential right of way, nor did it take precedence over the requirement to stop for a red light.   

What’s a driver to do?  Let me offer a couple of suggestions that I hope will prompt a discussion with all of the drivers in your household, not just the teens.  First, if you come upon a funeral procession, allow the vehicles to pass keeping in mind the five-minute rule.  Yes, the law says motorists must obey red lights, but quite frankly, think about how you’d feel if you were  in a procession and suddenly cut off by another driver determined to enter the flow of traffic. 

At the same time, don’t assume that every driver that comes upon a funeral procession will stop.  Always proceed with caution and give the right way to the other driver, particularly if he’s insistent upon proceeding.  Quite honestly, I’d always air on the side of caution and stop unless there was no other vehicles at the intersection.  

Also keep  in mind that the law varies from state to state.  If your teen is attending college in another state and has a car at his disposal or if you’ll be attending a funeral or simply driving out-of-state for business or pleasure, make sure everyone knows the law.  According to a 2004 report compiled by Kristina Sadlak, then a legislative fellow with the Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, only Nevada allows the lead vehicle in a funeral procession to go through a red light.  The law in five states -- Arizona, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, and North Dakota -- implies that the lead funeral escort vehicle and all proceeding after it can disregard a red light.  And in 15 other states, vehicles displaying a placard or flag as well as flashers and lights can disregard a red light if the lead vehicle went through the intersection when the signal was green and subsequently turned red.

So what did my husband do?  He stopped (albeit more a rolling than a full stop) and proceeded through the red light.  Thankfully, all of the motorists at the cross street gave our vehicle and the ones following us the right of way.  My review of Pennsylvania’s motor vehicle statute revealed that what we did was consistent with the law.  But I should point out that had an emergency vehicle been coming, that driver would have had the right of way.