LAW WOULD REQAUIRE MOTORISTS TO STOP FOR FUNERAL PROCESSIONS

Motorists and pedestrians who fail to yield to a funeral procession would be fined up to $100 under legislation newly proposed in Jefferson City.

"It seems that fewer and fewer people are taught to respect a funeral procession," state Sen. Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles, complained in introducing his bill Tuesday to the Senate Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

In the past, Ehlmann said, cars moved to the side of the road and people sometimes got out to show their respect as a low-speed procession of cars drove by with their headlights on.

But he said the tradition is not being upheld, especially in urban areas and where police escorts are less frequent.

Exceptions would be made in the law for emergency vehicles and law enforcement.

Cliff Ford, president of Ford & Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau, said a lack of deference to processions isn't a problem locally. "In Cape we're fortunate because we have police escorts and they do a good job of escorting us.

"In larger cities it's a major problem," he said. "Most people in town are pretty courteous."

But Ford said cars slowing down or stopping occasionally can create problems. "The only time it can be fairly dangerous is out on a back road if there is not much of a shoulder," he said. "It's almost as much of a danger for them to pull over."

Ford wondered how such a law would be enforced.

A spokesman for the Cape Girardeau Police Department said he was unfamiliar with the bill.

Bill Kuss, owner of Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel, said the bill is good for safety reasons.

The Missouri Funeral Director's Association back's the bill. Sam Licklider, lobbyist for the association, told the committee that Ehlmann's bill "codifies custom."

Sherry Anderson, executive director of the funeral director's association, said in an interview that motorist safety is a top priority for the organization.

"Our membership is concerned for the people in the procession and for their safety," she said. "Most people assume it is the law; it is not. There is nothing in the law that says they have to stop. I think that was something that was followed many, many years ago," but "things do change."

Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy and a committee member, was concerned about having processions entering intersections expecting motorists to stop without warning.

"You set up a more dangerous situation here," he told Ehlmann.

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House by Rep. Bill Gratz, D-Jefferson City.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.