Posted: 5/15/2009 12:57:24 PM EDT
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maybe someone can help me out. I have been searching my Copy of the Texas Traffic code and cannot find anywhere where it mentions any statutes regarding the maneuvering of vehicles and proper action when approached by a funeral procession. the only think i can find is the section under authorized emergency vehicles. Now i know that pretty much every procession is given a police escort so therefore all the rules and regulations of being approached by an authorized emergency vehicle.
Now... In many places they have private services that offer funeral escort services. As these are not police officers or other authorized emergency vehicles. how do they not get busted for impersonating a peace officer. and would there be techincally no reason to recognize them as an emergency vehicle and thus YROW to them.. |
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Now... In many places they have private services that offer funeral escort services. As these are not police officers or other authorized emergency vehicles. how do they not get busted for impersonating a peace officer. and would there be techincally no reason to recognize them as an emergency vehicle and thus YROW to them.. Wouldn't they be considered escorting a convoy? Don't remember if convoy's have special privelages. I've never seen a private company escorting a funeral procession, only off duty police/sheriff in uniform, usually on their privately owned motorcycles. If it is a private company, then I would imagine they would be no different than one of those pilot cars that escort wide/oversized loads on 18 wheelers. Usually you yield to them for safety purposes, not because there is a law telling you to. For a funeral procession, usually you yield out of respect for the dead and family. Although I once was told that the only vehicle that can legally break through a funeral procession is a postal delivery vehicle, but that is probably just old folk lore or something. |
Oh so i figured i should give a little background.... and a little MSPaint
Ok so some more background. Blue car is n/b. They have a green light. red car is traveling w/b with a red light. red car is part of a funeral procession with an escort, that which appears to be a private service (i.e. as far as my investigation has uncovered is not affiliated with any Law enforcement agencies). the escort bike is stopped in the NW corner of the i/s. from the statements i've gathered from the interested parties, I have not been able to determine what he was doing (lights and sirens, directing traffic, etc. we dont know). my synopsis of each drivers statement is as follows Blue vehicle states they were stopped at the red light. the light turned green and blue vehicle proceeded n/b as proceeding n/b was struck on the passenger side fender by red vehicle who was traveling w/b with a red light but part of a funeral procession. driver of blue vehicle stated they did not see the escort as he was in the far opposite corner of the intersection and she did not see any flashing lights or chirping of sirens etc red vehicle states they were traveling w/b through a red light as part of a funeral procession. they advised that this private service was supposed to be directing traffic. Driver of red vehicle states he was not aware of the location of that private escort vehicle and was not aware if he was providing traffic direction to any other traffic. driver of blue vehicle states he was possibly the 10th vehicle in line of this procession. I dont know at this point what the following distance was between each vehicle of the procession. The questions i have to answer before making a liability decision. 1. Per my training and subsequent research of the Texas Transportation code, there is not duty for a vehicle to YROW at a green light to a funeral procession. But there IS a duty to yield to an authorized emergency vehicle. 2. Does this private processional escort service qualify as an authorized emergency vehicle. assuming (a) they are in fact commissioned LEO's (b) on personally owned vehicles (i.e. not the department motor units) What does Arfcom think? The only reason i put it in the hometown forum is because it deals specifically with texas traffic code. and yes i understand normally the yielding to a funeral processional is supposed to be out of respect. but as i'm sure we're all aware, respect really doesn't mean shit on the roads for some reason ETA on second thought i am going to copy this and put it in GD hopefully to get a bit more viewing traffic |
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Sort of off topic but if you can find the case it might help you out. A few years ago there was an instance or two of a private escort here in Collin County that got it's ass in a crack for trying to enforce traffic law. SS
ETA google this . collin county+funeral escort and some news about the incident pops up. HTH Further edited to add. THIS WAS CONTRIBUTED BY A "Texas Investigator1" and it may be the smae guy that posts on here. The Texas Occupations Code, Section 1702, is the Private Security Act. Although not specifically mentioned in The Act, Escort Services are required to register their employees as Guards under Commission Rule 428.01. They have ZERO LE authority, and cannot stop traffic, block traffic, direct traffic etc. I have seen them and they act just like the police. They pull out in intersections and stop/block traffic with green lights so the funeral prosession can continue uninterrupted. That is not legal. They cannot have any flashing or strobe white, blue or red lights. |
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Quoted: Now... In many places they have private services that offer funeral escort services. As these are not police officers or other authorized emergency vehicles. how do they not get busted for impersonating a peace officer. and would there be techincally no reason to recognize them as an emergency vehicle and thus YROW to them.. http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa050602_am_funeralsecurity.2d6906a5f.html Funeral escorts arrested by Allen police 11:30 PM CDT on Thursday, June 2, 2005 By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA-TV After years of providing funeral procession security, Clarence Griffen never dreamed he would be arrested for doing a job he loves. "I have not impersonated a police officer," said Griffen, who rides a motorcycle for DFW Motorcade Safety. "I don't have 'police officer' written anywhere on me." But Allen police accuse Griffen and another funeral escorts of breaking the law, with the help of convincing uniforms and cars. "They had a road shut down, and we had an officer witness them," said Allen Police Cpl. Jon Felty. "When they are using these vehicles to stop or impede the flow of traffic, that's when it becomes an unlawful act." Griffen argues he's protected by the state occupation code governing security guards. "The only thing I was doing was giving a warning to traffic to get over one lane to allow the procession to enter the highway," he said. But police said that's only true on private property - not a public highway. Owners of DFW Motorcade Safety said they've had no problems until the two arrests in Allen, and another in Plano six months ago for a similar situation. "No problems, nowhere whatsoever," said co-owner Tonya Tanksley. "Actually, we used to do it in Allen, and they never had a problem with it (until) right now." Company owners and employees plan to fight the charges in court while they continue providing funeral procession security, including two in Allen on Friday. |
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Sort of off topic but if you can find the case it might help you out. A few years ago there was an instance or two of a private escort here in Collin County that got it's ass in a crack for trying to enforce traffic law. SS ETA google this . collin county+funeral escort and some news about the incident pops up. HTH Further edited to add. THIS WAS CONTRIBUTED BY A "Texas Investigator1" and it may be the smae guy that posts on here. The Texas Occupations Code, Section 1702, is the Private Security Act. Although not specifically mentioned in The Act, Escort Services are required to register their employees as Guards under Commission Rule 428.01. They have ZERO LE authority, and cannot stop traffic, block traffic, direct traffic etc. I have seen them and they act just like the police. They pull out in intersections and stop/block traffic with green lights so the funeral prosession can continue uninterrupted. That is not legal. They cannot have any flashing or strobe white, blue or red lights. The Texas AG has ruled now that if the escort services only do traffic control, they do not have to comply with the guard laws. Unless the transportation code has changed, they still have no traffic authority. {unless they are peace officers) |
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Why not just do the right thing? Pull over and show some respect. Damn whatever traffic code says. I agree, but where this situation comes from is that I am a liability claims adjuster for a major auto insurer. And this claim came across my desk today. All the info that i've posted is pretty much all i know about the situation. I am going to attempt to get a statement with the officer/escort/whoever he is to see what he has to say, it seems like both parties involved in the accident don't really know what he was doing so that shows a lack of attention on both their parts. Just an interesting claim that came across my desk that i thought might get some good discussion here on ARFcom. while i agree you should pull over out of respect, but from what i can tell this procession seems to have really spaced out thus making it near impossible to tell where it began or ended and the person who was directing the traffic appears to have been doing a shitty job, and may possibly not have the legal authority to stop traffic on a public roadway to allow other vehicles to pass on a red light. Just a day in the life of a claims adjuster... |
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Why not just do the right thing? Pull over and show some respect. Damn whatever traffic code says. I agree, but where this situation comes from is that I am a liability claims adjuster for a major auto insurer. And this claim came across my desk today. All the info that i've posted is pretty much all i know about the situation. I am going to attempt to get a statement with the officer/escort/whoever he is to see what he has to say, it seems like both parties involved in the accident don't really know what he was doing so that shows a lack of attention on both their parts. Just an interesting claim that came across my desk that i thought might get some good discussion here on ARFcom. while i agree you should pull over out of respect, but from what i can tell this procession seems to have really spaced out thus making it near impossible to tell where it began or ended and the person who was directing the traffic appears to have been doing a shitty job, and may possibly not have the legal authority to stop traffic on a public roadway to allow other vehicles to pass on a red light. Just a day in the life of a claims adjuster... Seems kind of convoluted to me. Being a claims adjuster do you have access to your companies attorny(s)? I'd run it past them, but I can't see any way it could be the fault of the guy with the green light at all. To me it has to be the fault of the guy running the red light, or the escort who didn't properly do their job. I lived in Washington D.C. for many years working for the Pentagon. Needless to say I got to see a lot of escorted convoy's on the road. Everything from Presidental Motorcades to Funeral Processions to Ft. Meede. All the convoy's I saw had qualified police officers that would stop traffic in a very safe mannor at all intersections (park dead middle of the intersection, get out, and start directing traffic). The higher end motorcades even had traveling utility workers that went ahead of the group and manually activated the traffic signals to stop cross traffic, and give the convoy a green light in addition to the police. I'm highly suspect of this private escort who was pretending to stop/direct traffic......... |
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Keeping in mind that I went through the police academy back in '85, if I remember correctly Texas DPS is the only agency authorized by law to enforce traffic in Texas. They allow/delegate traffic enforcement to counties and cities but only within their jurisdiction.
I believe no private company has any legal authority to enforce or control traffic, anywhere. The fact that they have done so with no problems so far does not constitute authority to do so. It sounds like the procession got strung out and someone was trying to catch up and busted a red light. You can't disregard a traffic control device unless directed to do so by a police officer or other authorized traffic controller like men in a work zone directing traffic. Emergency vehicles can run a red light but they are required to ensure that it is safe to do so. A fire truck can't knock another vehicle out of the way for instance. I also remember something about only yielding right-of-way, not taking the right-of-way. In my opinion, and it's worth exactly what you paid for it, the car that ran the red light is completely at fault. It sounds like the escort motorcycle knew he couldn't legally block the intersection so he was at the corner. I do not believe there is a requirement to yield to a funeral procession, but it is considered really bad manners to not do so. It is out of respect, not a legal requirement. Jim |
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Quoted: Quoted: The Texas AG has ruled now that if the escort services only do traffic control, they do not have to comply with the guard laws. Unless the transportation code has changed, they still have no traffic authority. {unless they are peace officers) How does your first sentence apply within the context of the second? Is "Traffic control" something different from "traffic authority?" I'm confuzled. |
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No, the traffic laws are enforceable by all peace officers under the law. (academy of '83).
Keeping in mind that I went through the police academy back in '85, if I remember correctly Texas DPS is the only agency authorized by law to enforce traffic in Texas. They allow/delegate traffic enforcement to counties and cities but only within their jurisdiction. I believe no private company has any legal authority to enforce or control traffic, anywhere. The fact that they have done so with no problems so far does not constitute authority to do so. Yep. Of course road construction crews can block lanes and stop traffic as needed.
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The Texas AG has ruled now that if the escort services only do traffic control, they do not have to comply with the guard laws. Unless the transportation code has changed, they still have no traffic authority. {unless they are peace officers) How does your first sentence apply within the context of the second? Is "Traffic control" something different from "traffic authority?" I'm confuzled. The agency that licenses guards required that escort services be licensed as guards. The AG wrote in an opinion that UNLESS the escort folks did something besides escorting traffic (perhaps the word "control" was a bad choice) that is otherwise regulated by law, the escorts do not have to register with the private security board. That has nothing to do with any authority they might have to direct or control traffic. They have none. |
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No, the traffic laws are enforceable by all peace officers under the law. (academy of '83).
Keeping in mind that I went through the police academy back in '85, if I remember correctly Texas DPS is the only agency authorized by law to enforce traffic in Texas. They allow/delegate traffic enforcement to counties and cities but only within their jurisdiction. I believe no private company has any legal authority to enforce or control traffic, anywhere. The fact that they have done so with no problems so far does not constitute authority to do so. Yep. Of course road construction crews can block lanes and stop traffic as needed.
I didn't make clear what I was trying to say. Of course all peace officers can enforce traffic laws. One of my instructers said that by statute only the DPS has the suthority over traffic. The DPS allows the counties and cities to enforce the traffic laws in their jurisdiction. I do know of a small city back in the '80s who had their computer removed by the DPS for screwing around running license plates on cars checking out girls. After that they were only able to enforce criminal laws and city ordinances until DPS allowed them to resume traffic enforcement. Someone else would have to confirm this. I don't have the books anymore. Jim |
| I was in Austin today for a funeral. Procession escorted by about 8 APD motorcycle cops. I have to say that I was very disappointed in the way in which the public responded to the procession. Numerous people cut in and out of the line, people at the rear reported being given the finger!, there was even one guy that kept ignoring the cops and passing them when he had green lights and NOT stopping when he had red lights. About a mile down the road an APD squad car had the guy hemmed up in a parking lot...I hope he was getting a ticket. |
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Like I posted in the other thread, unless there was a LEO directing traffic, the car running the red light is at fault under Texas law.
Further beyond that, it sounds like the funeral escort was doing a poor job and I question whether the car with the green light even knew there was a funeral procession. While it would be nice if people pulled over for funerals, it is not a requirement. As a firefighter, when I am responding to an emergency, I am required to use 'due regard'. If I cause an accident because I was going against a traffic signal, I am still liable, even with my lights and siren on. Unfortunately it seems a lot of firefighters and police officers forget this after a while. |
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That is inaccurate. By statute, all Texas peace officers have authority over traffic. Quoted:
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No, the traffic laws are enforceable by all peace officers under the law. (academy of '83).
Keeping in mind that I went through the police academy back in '85, if I remember correctly Texas DPS is the only agency authorized by law to enforce traffic in Texas. They allow/delegate traffic enforcement to counties and cities but only within their jurisdiction. I believe no private company has any legal authority to enforce or control traffic, anywhere. The fact that they have done so with no problems so far does not constitute authority to do so. Yep. Of course road construction crews can block lanes and stop traffic as needed.
I didn't make clear what I was trying to say. Of course all peace officers can enforce traffic laws. One of my instructers said that by statute only the DPS has the suthority over traffic. The DPS allows the counties and cities to enforce the traffic laws in their jurisdiction. I do know of a small city back in the '80s who had their computer removed by the DPS for screwing around running license plates on cars checking out girls. After that they were only able to enforce criminal laws and city ordinances until DPS allowed them to resume traffic enforcement. No. DPS can pull their access to TLETS, but DPS has NO authority to disallow a municipalities authority to enforce state traffic laws or to conduct traffic enforcement.
Texas Transportation Code
TRANSPORTATION CODE TITLE 7. VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC SUBTITLE C. RULES OF THE ROAD CHAPTER 543. ARREST AND PROSECUTION OF VIOLATORS SUBCHAPTER A. ARREST AND CHARGING PROCEDURES; NOTICES AND PROMISES TO APPEAR Sec. 543.001. ARREST WITHOUT WARRANT AUTHORIZED. Any peace officer may arrest without warrant a person found committing a violation of this subtitle. Sec. 543.004. NOTICE TO APPEAR REQUIRED: CERTAIN OFFENSES. (a) An officer shall issue a written notice to appear if: (1) the offense charged is speeding or a violation of the open container law, Section 49.03, Penal Code; and (2) the person makes a written promise to appear in court as provided by Section 543.005. (b) If the person is a resident of or is operating a vehicle licensed in a state or country other than this state, Subsection (a) applies only as provided by Chapter 703. (c) The offenses specified by Subsection (a) are the only offenses for which issuance of a written notice to appear is mandatory. |
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Like I posted in the other thread, unless there was a LEO directing traffic, the car running the red light is at fault under Texas law. Further beyond that, it sounds like the funeral escort was doing a poor job and I question whether the car with the green light even knew there was a funeral procession. While it would be nice if people pulled over for funerals, it is not a requirement. As a firefighter, when I am responding to an emergency, I am required to use 'due regard'. If I cause an accident because I was going against a traffic signal, I am still liable, even with my lights and siren on. Unfortunately it seems a lot of firefighters and police officers forget this after a while. As ZootTX said, even bona-fide emergency vehicles must use "due care" for others and may proceed through an intersection against traffic control devices only when it is safe to do so, although others must yield to emergency vehicles when given adequate warning. In this case the escort service is not a recognized emergency vehicle having traffic control authority. There are three possibly responsible parties––the escort service itself, the vehicle which passed a red traffic control device, as well as the vehicle which struck it if there was an opportunity to avoid the collision. |