From the middle of next year it will again become illegal for motorists in the Netherlands to cut across a funeral procession. Minister of Transport Camiel Eurlings told the Lower House that, as a matter of respect, a cortège should take precedence over the rights of other traffic.

A previous law forbidding the interception of a funeral procession was revoked in 1990 because it was too difficult to identify which vehicles were part of the procession. In those days, far fewer people rode in black funeral cars than is the case today.

Under the new law, funeral cars will be required to carry clear markings of proscribed dimensions to indicate their purpose, and these markings must be visible even in bad weather. Such markings are currently being developed and tested.