'Stay local to exercise' is rubbish

[ThePants999]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52062209

Taking public transport to start your exercise is obviously counterproductive.

Driving to somewhere where loads of other people are also going to exercise is not exactly ideal.

Driving to somewhere in the middle of nowhere to go for a walk? Not only is that perfectly safe, I'm going to assert that it's BETTER than walking from your house, especially if you live in a built-up area.

AIBU? And if I'm being U - why? How am I endangering anyone by going out to the countryside by car instead of walking round my town?

There no way I’m going to live I with this ridiculous situation indefinitely , when the virus is on its way out.

I’ve seriously looked how to create a faraday cage, when there was a news article to say that the government now have powers to track everyone’s phones

A cover of plastic sheeting, ( like a polythene freezer bag) and a complete covering of thick foil will do it.

Obviously if you want to make or receive a call you have to take it all off

Totally agree but on here you'll get a whole load of "just stay at home" posts. I walked to my usual dog walk area that I normally drive to (not that far but have to walk along road with no pavement to get to it) and I passed several runners/cyclists/walkers within 6 feet. In the car I'd see nobody. Bonkers. I spoke to a local police officer and he agreed with me, he said it was some police forces trying to discourage day trippers to crowded areas (understandable) but its trial by Facebook round here. Now they on the community page have started questioning how long we are allowed out for. As if it makes fuck all difference whether I walk the dog for an hour or two hours, as long as I'm away from other people!

StripyOrangeCat I never take my phone out with me when I go out running each day.

Thousands of people live in 'built-up' areas and are staying nearby to exercise. However you feel you should be treated differently

StripeyOrangeCat the predictions are that we are still weeks away from the peak of the crises, sadly not on it's way out.

There is a HUGE park near me (well over 500 acres) that has been shut down. The car park is barricaded and according to Facebook the police are patrolling the outside to make sure nobody gets in.
I’ve been driving 15 min from my home to walk my dog here a few times a month for donkeys. There isn’t a single gate in the place. There are no houses, no farmland, no treacherous mountain terrain - nothing but acres of space. Absolutely massive open area and now people can’t walk their dogs in it so all of those people are now somewhere else, either passing each other on the pavements or at Curbar Edge presumably. I’m not saying people should be allowed to crash their cars in it or start fires or lick elderly peoples gates but the police patrolling the perimeter for solitary dog walkers is disproportionate and not based on any kind of normal risk assessment.

I can and do walk from my house but there are loads of people about. It’s ridiculous to say it’s easier to observe social distancing walking down the high street with social distancing queues snaking all over the place than it is in hundreds of acres of open space with dozens of miles of broad paths. I am an essential worker (NHS) and I can assure you that if I only have enough petrol for a trip to work or to take the dog out I will save it for work.

I keep reading conflicting advice.

Can I drive literally 5 minutes down the road to a forested area/ scrubland that literally only 2 other people even know about, to walk the dog? I could walk through the village across the motorway bridge to get there but I’d encounter more people that way.

@SmallChickBilly
Hmmm - those links didn't help as much as I was hoping.

The second one is explaining "here's why social distancing helps" - and I already totally get that. The reason I'm taking issue with this bit of the advice is because it seems to be contrary to social distancing - the government is saying "make sure you exercise around everyone else, instead of going somewhere remote to do it". It's precisely because I understand the value of social distancing that I'm questioning this advice.

The first article was basically saying "listen to scientists because their data is more valid than your anecdotal experience". That's fair, but good science can use the data to explain why people's intuition is wrong, and I'm looking for someone to do that here. (Honestly, I don't even trust that this specific aspect of the current advice has come from an expert - this feels like a knee-jerk reaction from a politician thinking "we need to stop everyone converging on Snowdonia, how do we do that?")

From an article on the BBC site today:

^Martin Hewitt, head of the National Police Chief's Council, said the UK was in a "national emergency, not a national holiday" .

The NPCC said going to local beauty spots was not banned as long as there was no mingling.

There were no plans for checkpoints to close beauty spots - but individuals and families needed to use their common sense

On Friday, the NPCC said that country walks were not banned under legislation that came into force on Thursday - nor was exercising more than once a day.
But police chiefs said the public needed to consider the risks to the NHS of spreading the virus through unintended social contact - and those could be increased by plans to go further than the local area.

"Where we do not want to get to, as we approach a weekend, is places of natural beauty being absolutely packed with people coming and going in the same car park and the potential to spread the virus."^

All of that reassures me that my driving 3 miles to an open space where there are no gates, and where I will not be mingling, is a reasonable interpretation of the regulations.

If I decide to go and find the car park busy, I will turn round and come back home.

where the usual paramedics, ambulance and fire brigade will not be able to reach you to treat you or transport you out

If that’s a huge issue surely no one should be running there then. The drive’s irrelevant.

If you allow people to drive anywhere to exercise then people will keep doing what they were - driving to popular beauty spots and beaches and picturesque coastal villages to 'have their exercise'.

Not necessarily, if they have any common sense. I would love to drive to the beach, or the hills 15 miles away, it's what I do every weekend normally. However, I won't, because I'm not a total twat and understand why that might cause problems. I've been driving over 30 years and never had an accident, and I'm happy with my decision to drive a couple of miles to a quiet area enabling me to avoid people passing me at close quarters on foot.

Exactly 50-50 after 688 votes. Don't see that very often!

The other thing to add about our Mountain - aka rural/isolated/countryside/National Parks - Rescue is that they are depleted just now. Depleted because they are symptomatic and self isolating, depleted because of child care as schools are closed, depleted because they are Key Workers eg in the NHS, depleted because they are being deployed to help with the coronavirus effort. They are very much engaged elsewhere. No one should be risking taking up their time unnecessarily at the moment. They might well not be there to help you if they wanted to.

@Stripyorangecat ...a complete covering of thick foil will do it.

A single layer of tinfoil from the kitchen is fine. Either that or a biscuit tin. Works perfectly.

But how long before carrying your phone becomes compulsory? For our own good... Can`t be too careful about contact tracing and social distancing, can we?

I live on a farm with public footpaths on it. We have had 100's of walkers using the paths. Each walker has touched the gates on the paths. These are also the gates my FIL have to open daily. He is in the highly vulnerable category and we are all isolating ourselves so he does not catch it. Tell me how we are supposed to keep him safe with all the walkers coming and touching the gates, not sticking to the paths and opening other gates they are supposed to go near. We are fed up and can't wait for a full lock down!

You know you can do exercise at home and don't need to go out for that? Just reminds me of the italian mayor who was shouting at people that they all have suddenly become so interested in running when the lockdown came. Stay at home. How hard is that? You need fresh air? Open the window. Only go out for essential. Going out to do something you can do at home is not essential. If you are not concerned about your safety then be it but be considerate about other people.

You see you are being sensible. We do not want to stop people going for a safe walk in the Peak District who use the available safe car parking spots, but we do want to stop the utter idiots who think that we are somehow not part of the guidelines and the magic in our fields makes us immune.

Now that I have read the full thread I realise that OP is just be pedantic and argumentative for the sake of it. I wouldn't have posted if I read the full thread. My bad.

Just to add, mountain rescue is a vital round here. Ambulances can not get to people who injure themselves when out walking.

I think the problem is that there possibly isn't definitive science that can back up a rule which is applicable in every scenario, so they use known factors and statistics, then err on the side of caution on the expectation that some people will err on the cautious side of that, and others will go the other way (as the vote here proves, and as the first link I posted goes into a bit).

If you are one of a minority for whom it is safer to drive elsewhere than to exercise from home, then you may be right that it's not strictly true for you, but the way the advice is delivered is designed to appeal to the majority, taking into account the assumption that many will ignore it anyway.

Sorry - bit rambly as I'm tired, but I kind of feel like these situations where you'd love to rely on people using their common sense are exactly the ones which demonstrate how wildly people's versions of common sense differ from one another!

Consider the Peak District National Park
Residents: 38000
Visitors in 2018: 13.25 million
People who live in 1 hour’s drive: 20 million
Source: www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/news/mediacentrefacts
Rather than thinking will my drive out somewhere hurt someone, consider what would happen if every one of those 20 million did the same.
Then add in that not all visitors are responsible and you have one huge melting pot of easy to transmit infection.

In Dorset the Chief Constable said this in part of his statement today - For some areas of the country, this weekend marks the start of the Easter holidays. Please stay at home. Driving to exercise, visit public locations or beauty spots is not within the spirit of the Government direction and it places additional demand on other sectors.
The Council have now closed off car parks in towns and at various spots along the coast to prevent to hoards which descended last weekend. There are no lifeguards on beaches at this time of year (water is a bit chilly anyway) but if what if anyone got into trouble? The Coastguard, volunteers who are probably frontline workers. There have also been reports of birds nests being disturbed on cliffs and other areas. Also in the Countryside - gates left open, animals let out onto roads or into fields with fertilizer on (fatal if digested), dogs chasing sheep or even worse killing sheep and lambs. Not everyone has a sense of responsibility.
This isn't about you, it's not personal to anyone, this is about everyone whether it's keeping them healthy or you safe. This won't be forever, it's not ideal but for the moment it's our best shot.

Well the Police have pissed off the Daily Mail now so that'll learn 'em!

Jesus effin christ! Grow the hell up. Rules are rules....and they're currently there for a reason. Exercise in your front room or go for a flippin walk round the block. No wonder the country is in the state its in. I honestly despair!