William Barrett and Sons funeral home urges drivers not to honk, tailgate and cut off funeral processions

A South West funeral home has resorted to calling out impatient drivers on the roads as numerous funeral processions are interrupted by tailgating and honking every week. William Barrett and Sons took to social media this week to urge drivers not to cut off or merge between funeral cars on their way to ceremonies after weekly incidents in which impatient drivers were ruining processions. The funeral home urged motorists to slow down and show “consideration for the life we are honouring”. William Barrett and Sons community relations officer Taryn Barrett said impatient drivers are regularly cutting in front of hearses and funeral cars, breaking off the deceased from the line of sight of their loved ones following behind. Mrs Barrett said it wasn’t unusual to see it several times a week and that it was becoming “constant”. “We see it regularly, lots of our staff and families see it first hand,” she said. “For many families this is a momentous day, you feel like the whole world should stop and it’s just disrespectful for impatient drivers to get in the way of it.” As recently as Saturday, there was one procession interrupted by a driver honking and merging between the hearse and funeral cars. Mrs Barrett, whose family has operated William Barrett and Sons for generations, said the worst offenders tended to be in larger regional centres such as Bunbury and Busselton. “We do notice it more in bigger cities, people in country towns tend to slow down, wait for the procession,” she said. “Elderly residents still take off their hats when we drive by, as we grow as a city and as people become busier, society may be forgetting how significant a funeral is and should be.” Mrs Barrett urged drivers to slow down and for families to educate the next generation about road etiquette. She said processions are not as slow as some might think, adding that it’s really “just one or two minutes extra on your trip”. “Teach younger drivers what to do if you see a procession, this is an important and solemn tradition and we’d like to keep it that way.”