Do you have to pull over for a funeral procession in Washington?

Q: I was waved over to the side of the road to allow a funeral procession to pass. A couple of questions. Those “traffic control” motorcycles looked convincing, but are they really police officers? Is it really legal for them to direct me on the other side of the road? (I was being tailgated by another driver who I hope sees this. I wouldn't be writing at all if he hadn’t been there. I just would have waited.) — Matt

A: First of all, tailgaters are the worst and I sympathize.

Matt says this happened in South Tacoma, so we went to Tacoma Police Department spokeswoman Loretta Cool for an answer. Obviously, we don’t know anything about this funeral or the funeral home or what the escorts looked like, but here’s what we learned about the law and who escorts funeral processions.

Those folks on the motorcycles escorting the procession and directing traffic? Depending on the funeral, they could very well be off-duty or on-duty cops, Cool said. Even if they’re not, state law says that a funeral procession “shall be accompanied by adequate escort vehicles for traffic control purposesas determined by the chief of police.” So, yes, there is a law enforcement component to a funeral procession escort, and you should obey when they direct you to pull over.

Off-duty officers often work as escorts for funeral processions to clear intersections so the procession doesn’t have to stop at red lights, which could easily result in the funeral vehicles getting split up. They still have all the powers they have when on-duty, Cool said.

“They can cite and stop people. They’re police officers. It just depends on who’s paying them,” she said. “We literally have off-duty officers right now at Fred Meyer — they’re being paid by Fred Meyer, but they’re allowed to do their police activities because they’re in uniform, they’re wearing a gun, they’re there to deter crime or to intervene or to help victims.”

While laws vary from state to state and many people simply do it out of respect, in Washington you don't have to pull over for a funeral procession unless the escort directs you to pull over, Cool said.

“If you’re at a red light and you have an escort person on a motorcycle come up to clear the intersection, he would stop cross traffic and tell you to get out of the way because the funeral procession is coming,” she said.

Also, it is illegal to break into a funeral procession by merging between cars that are part of the procession. But there’s an exception to this law if the funeral procession has no official escort: “This provision shall not apply at intersections where traffic is controlled by traffic control devices unless a police officer is present at such intersections to direct traffic so as to preserve the continuity of the procession.”

Here are the rules, according to state law:

▪ A funeral procession shall proceed to the place of interment by the most direct route which is both legal and practicable.

▪ A funeral procession shall be accompanied by adequate escort vehicles for traffic control purposes as determined by the chief of police.

▪ All motor vehicles in a funeral procession shall be identified by having their headlights turned on or by such other method as may be determined and designated by the chief of police.

▪ All motor vehicles in a funeral procession shall be operated as near to the right-hand edge of the roadway as is practicable and shall follow the vehicle ahead as close as is practicable and safe.

This story was originally published March 17, 2018 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Do you have to pull over for a funeral procession in Washington?."