If you have spent anytime in the south, especially the rural south, you understand the importance of funeral etiquette.  For as long as anybody can remember the last act of kindness you can show someone, even in death, is to honor them by pulling off the shoulder of the road, or to take your hat off, slightly bend your head, as the funeral procession passes by. This still occurs today in small towns, but in larger more metropolitan areas, that ritual of respect, rarely occurs.