SPRINGDALE -- Springdale police will resume escorting funeral processions starting Friday thanks to a new state law.
Lt. Jeff Taylor, public information officer for the Police Department, made the announcement on its Facebook page Wednesday.
The Law
The new law states when a funeral processions occurs:
• The procession has right of way at intersections.
• If a motorist who is part of the procession becomes separated, he must obey all traffic control devices and general rules of the road while proceeding to his destination.
• A vehicle in a procession must turn on its headlights, tail lights and flashing hazard lights.
• Motorists who are not part of a procession cannot drive between procession vehicles, join the procession, pass the procession on a multiple-lane highway or enter an intersection when it is proceeding through a red light.
Source: Staff Report
"We have been asked many times over about funeral escorts and why we don't do them," Taylor said in the Facebook post. "Well they are coming back, and we wanted to let everyone know some of the rules pertaining to funeral escorts."
State Sen. Lance Eads sponsored Senate Bill 349 and state Rep. Jeff Williams carried the legislation in the House. Both lawmakers are from Springdale. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers.
The law, which took effect Aug. 1, grants funeral processions right of way and prohibits motor vehicles from interfering with a funeral procession.
"As long as a funeral procession is continuous in its nature and as long as they have their headlights and flashers on, then they're going to be allowed to proceed as a funeral procession from wherever the memorial is at to the gravesite," Williams said.
Police will not overlook motorists who fail to yield, Williams said.
"They can be ticketed," he said. "People who violate this will likely get warnings initially. I believe that will likely be what occurs first."
Williams said he and Eads wanted to get the law passed because some motorists weren't yielding to funeral processions.
"When I see a funeral procession occurring, I pull to the side of the road, turn on my lights and pay my respects to people burying their loved ones," he said.
Brad Hays, Arkansas Funeral Directors Association president, said the association didn't have any input on the bill, but he supports the law.
"The association definitely supports safety, and I believe that this bill is making an attempt to provide the safety," Hays said.
Williams said he and Eads spoke with Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse and the Police Department about creating the law without hindering traffic.
Springdale stopped providing police escorts to funeral processions in February 2013. Kathy O'Kelley, Springdale's police chief at the time, told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette escorting funerals was dangerous to police officers and drivers.
"I don't have the personnel on duty at one time to adequately cover those intersections," she said in 2013. "Really (the procession is) at the mercy of courteous drivers. Twenty years ago, you had far smaller communities that were a more homogeneous culture, and you could do the escorts then."
Gene Page, public information officer for the Bentonville Police Department, said his department has been escorting funeral processions free for more than 20 years and has provided 34 escorts so far this year.
"We'll try to continue doing them as long as we can," Page said. "I know a lot of departments have stopped doing them because of officer availability."
Rogers and Fayetteville police departments also provide escorts to funeral processions at no cost.
"(Police escorts) helps facilitate the flow of traffic," said Keith Foster, public information officer for the Rogers Police Department. "If you have a long procession, it helps it get through the intersection and keeps the procession as one group."
Fayetteville, Rogers and Bentonville police usually provide two officers to escort a procession.
"It makes it safer for everybody, said Cpl. Dallas Brashears of Fayetteville's Community Policing Division. "We can either put one officer in the front and one in the back of the procession, or one of the officers can lead the procession while the other stops traffic at intersections."
Peters anticipates his department will provide two officers for most funeral processions, and possibly more for lengthy ones.
NW News on 08/31/2017