'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?

Your child will manage with not having an open space to run around. It is not fair but neither is life. I am having to keep my toddlers indoors and it is hellish but sometimes you have to think about people other than your own family unit.

Just do as instructed. It's not rocket science. Too many people trying to bend the rules with silly justification.
If only no one else had the same idea.
That's how beaches and national parks ended up full and consequently shut.

YABU. The police here are putting letters on windscreens and turning people round because it’s not a necessary journey.

In theory great but lots have the same idea- my parents love in a beautiful rural area that was completely over run last weekend- local people couldn’t go to there local shops and social distance.... bit of a nightmare

No it's stupid. The police here are actually having to turn people away from a beach because people are coming from nearby towns and cities to walk their dogs. When they never did normally.

But hey if you want to be stupid and go for a drive to have a walk, go right ahead. Waste police time. If you have an accident, waste doctors time. Think we should start billing people for this, maybe then they'd listen.

That or we start publically shaming the idiots on the national news, or just leave them in cells for a couple of nights. Eventually, the cell thing will come true.. If people don't start listening.

Which bit don’t you understand? No non essential travel. A walk is a walk the point being to exercise not to take in the scenery. My friend lives in France and you are not allowed to go more than 2k beyond your house. Stop looking for loopholes - go for a long walk near home and stop bloody moaning!

I totally agree.

It's very difficult to stay 2 metres apart on pavement because most pavements are less than 2 metres wide. It's much easier to travel to an isolated field and keep distance.

The 'accidents' argument carries little weight when the government are still encouraging people to cycle and horse ride and allowing people to motorcycle; all of which are high risk for serious accidents.

The 'everyone will go there' argument only makes sense if people are crowding out beaches and national parks, which obviously should be policed so this doesn't happen. What about everyone walking on the pavement? People should be encouraged to find isolated places, close to home whether that requires driving a short distance (obviously not 20 miles) or waking from home.

What I have observed if human behaviour from my window here in France is the 1-2 people doing something makes others feel they have permission to do it. So seeing cars being driven, hearing that someone has driven to and walked in a more remote place, etc just makes more people feel like they have permission to do it too.

So keep it simple. Put your dog in a head, take it for a walk round the block a few times, then go home.

My friend lives in France and you are not allowed to go more than 2k beyond your house

At the risk of stating the obvious, MN is a UK site and the UK law does not say that.

That or we start publically shaming the idiots on the national news, or just leave them in cells for a couple of nights

Lovely.

Meanwhile, 3 days into 'lockdown' people were still flying into the uk from the USA - now the most infected country. At Heathrow there were NO measures taken and pp were free to go straight out onto public transport and on. God alone knows how many people they will have infected.

And yet I and others are apparently 'fuckwits', 'morons', 'selfish bastards' because we've gone for a drive and a walk without coming into contact with anyone.

In theory I agree, but I can see all the arguments against. Plus restricting people to their area will generally make these walks or runs shorter, and so less opportunities to pass on/catch the virus.

What is it with this 'might have an accident' thing? Don't most accidents happen at home?

I must say that I'm amazed at the number of people who suddenly all want to visit a famous beauty spot. I bet the vast majority of them have shown zero interest in the past,preferring to sit hunched indoors over their phone or ipad. I think it's human nature to try to bend the rules. Not having a dig at you OP,I think what you're saying sounds perfectly reasonable,but you should know by now that you'll get shouted down on here!

What part of stay home stay safe protect the NHS do people not get? It’s so simple

Like others it’s not so much the restriction of freedom, it’s the fact that it exposes us to unnecessary risk. I pulled the kids out of school early due to medical vulnerabilities and haven’t been to a shop in weeks. We quarantine deliveries, wear gloves when we handle them and wipe everything down with bleach solution. We live on a busy narrow road which has now also become the thoroughfare for everyone who is “taking their exercise” and well as where the queue for the pharmacy is. There is nothing that the government have said that tells me I can’t drive a mile or two to the safe location where I have walked my dog almost every day for several years. As it is, I’m cutting the walls shorter and keeping him on lead, so he is crying and barking the house down for hours a day. We will probably have to give him away if we are not allowed to walk him. I’m disgusted by this vigilantism and the fact it’s putting us at risk.

@LittleRootie

You think they won't give the police the power to arrest people? They probably already have. One offence, fine. Second offence, arrest. To be honest they should be doing that. They should also have cancelled all flights in and out of the country, but they won't because the majority of the country voted in the bloody tories who serve big corporations, not us.

But hey you don't want to do your part of it? That's on your head. Not mine.

People forget people work in the countryside that’s the problem. We have people coming around touching gates and walls where the family have to work, farming is serious and deliberately driving to our where we live and work is unfair. Our children should be able to be around their home without having to worry about being infected, the same as your children are kept safe in your home.

I don’t drive to farms. We’re not talking here about whether it’s ok to come out to the countryside as a day tripper or to trespass on someone’s land.

You think they won't give the police the power to arrest people? They probably already have

They haven't.

But hey you don't want to do your part of it? That's on your head. Not mine.

I am doing my part of it. I am following the rules and making sure I reduce the risk of contact with pp outside my household to the very minimum.

The problem is if everyone has the same idea. I live in a rural area. I've never seen so many people. Car travel means petrol, traffic, chance of accident. If people don't respect the rules we're all going to end up housebound.

We live in Kenilworth and have had ridiculous amounts of visitors to the area. Leamington Spa, Stratford and Warwick have had the same. It is ridiculous; stay home and exercise near where you live. Over the last week the number of groups meeting for picnics has been unbelievable.

My Dad lives 30 minutes away and is particularly vulnerable. I've driven to his house and left food outside this afternoon and was stopped by local police and asked where I was going and why - driving 30 minutes from home isn't ideal but it's necessary, and they were perfectly fine with that (fortunately they could see my back seat full of his shopping). If I'd been driving 30 minutes for a dog walk in a favourite location I doubt they'd have been so understanding and rightly so; those limitations are there for a simple reason.

That’s exactly it LittleRootie. It’s about minimising contact whilst staying local. It’s not the same as family and friends meet ups on the beach. And it’s not against the word or spirit of the legislation or announcements. I genuinely fear for society when this is over.

I am sure there are many people who would love to do this and many that probably are, as we have seen at beaches and national parks. This conversation is a true reflection of the bigger picture, rules only apply to me when I want them to! I am allowed to do what I want and justify it by asking others! This needs to be a time for some self reflection people and thinking about your impact on others. So many people are dealing with this like children and believe me when I say this, as I have worked with thousands of them.
We are in crisis, the rules are there for a reason, do I like them...NO, do I follow them...YES, because I do not in any way want to add to the burden that the frontline already has and every single one of us is responsible for setting an example. This is not an ‘all I care about is me’ situation, this is a crisis facing the whole world, people are dying and in the face of that this is the discussion? Wow!

*You think they won't give the police the power to arrest people? They probably already have

They haven't.*

Our local police have shut the beach car parks and when one woman refused to leave despite repeatedly being told to she was arrested for "breaching a dispersal notice"

So yes they can and will.