'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?

Did you not see what happened last weekend. The weather brings them out in droves to popular tourist spots.

It’s because hundreds if not thousands of idiots have taken the piss and done things like driven to Snowdon, parked up and gone for a hike.
As always a few idiots spoil things for the many.

The car park is tiny and normally empty, it only has space for about 6 cars. There were about 30 cars, all squeezed in and parked in a mess!

Publishing drone pictures of couples out on deserted moors is so so out of order.

I agree.

Don't be clapping for the NHS and then not staying at home.

@Thesearmsofmine

The more cars on the road the more accidents there will be, the more break downs there will be, the more often you need to top up with petrol.

Exactly.

I agree OP. I live a 10 min drive from some beautiful open countryside. I went up there once this week with my dog and saw only a handful of people; it was very easy to observe social distancing.

My car is electric so I don’t need to go to a petrol station at any point.

I accept there is the risk of a car accident, and that is something I obviously don’t want to happen, but I also have to drive to get to a supermarket, so that risk is a part of my weekly life no matter what I do.

It’s much more difficult to observe social distancing if I walk my dog from my house without driving anywhere.

It's just too difficult to police even if it seems to make sense. We can't go out for a walk at all due to people moving about too much. It's much easier if everyone has to stay at home.

Everyone is going to the same previously quiet places, meaning they’re no longer quiet, just look at what happened in places like Snowdon last weekend

If people keep being ridiculous then I imagine the governments next step will be to remove once daily exercise from the list of acceptable reasons to go out.

That 'these vehicles should not be here' car park on the Twitter police video was nowhere near full, they showed footage of people who were nowhere near anyone else, absolutely no danger whatsoever.

Shit like this is what will make people rebel.

Yes, break up barbecues and give people shit it if they meet upon large groups.

Publishing videos publicly shaming people people who take alleged 'Instagram photos' in a completely deserted place? Fuck off.

Because you can't police 'only drive to the middle of nowhere'.

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'. And then you get crowds of people who'd rather walk somewhere 'nice' than round the roads near to home.

I live very near to a popular local beauty spot - walking distance and it's a regular walk me and my family do. I don't want crowds of people from all over heading there at the moment. Stay where you bloody well live.

Also keeping cars off the roads means that delivery drivers and ambulances can get to places quicker. There’s a massive demand for food etc to hit stores and to be delivered to individuals/families the less traffic there is the quicker this can be done.

But if one does that then 100 do it. If hundreds do it then thousands then do it. With people driving here there and everywhere people begin to become lax about the rules and....that's where the rules break down.

I live up a hill which means that the last mile to home on a run is inevitably a slog so I often drive a mile or two out to change the start/ end point of my runs to one of the neighbouring villages in the surrounding uncelebrated parts of the county. I'm not doing it at the moment, but given that it's similar milage to the supermarket, it's not really what the police are heavily concerned about.

Given that a significant proportion of the population are still struggling to understand about not meeting people beyond their household and keeping 2m of personal space, the police need to broadcast a blatent sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut-message of no unnecessary journeys and stay close to home to avoid a repeat of last weeks scenes of packed out honey pots, traffic chaos and risking the virus being carried from urban hotspots to rural areas with poorer health infrastructure.

The reality is that if it is genuinely a only few miles to go somewhere genuinely quiet, no one is around to notice and be impacted. But the police can't spread that message because most places are not as quiet and secret as people would like to think, and it doesn't take much to overwhelm quiet places. Heck, I've actually seen another runner have the audacity to know my secret trails this week and they've been mine for about 5 years! (And yes, I did run from home and take the mean hill at the end and have not broken any rules)

If you have an accident or break down going to do your shopping or pick up medicines then fine, can't be helped. Essential trips.
Not driving to the middle of nowhere just because you fancied it.

It is not rocket science to follow the rules. Travel only when necessary - for work, medicinal or shopping. Exercise once a day, do not visit anyone's house and stay in your own house.

There were over a 1000 people at a lake near me last weekend. There are only a handful of parking spaces.
The only reason it won’t be rammed again this weekend is most people are taking notice, not that people don’t want to go.

Everyone wants to find a reason that the rules don’t apply to them. Many police forces have been making it very clear you shouldn’t be making an unnecessary journey and driving to walk your dog will be deemed as that. I usually drive my dog to various lovely parks but not anymore, we walk to the local park.

I’m really so fed up with how everyone thinks the rules are for interpreting how they want. If the polices explanation isn’t to your liking, then justify how your way is right. Is it an unnecessary journey? Are you driving for medication, food or to help a vulnerable person? That is what the police will ask you. If you answer you’re driving to walk your dog or run around a nicer park or river then get your money ready. Rules apply to all. Stay. At. Home

It’s much more difficult to observe social distancing if I walk my dog from my house without driving anywhere

But you're missing the point - social distancing isn't just to protect you. It's to stop the spread.

You get in your car and drive ten minutes away and spread it to the four other people who touched the same gate as you. All four of whom also drove there from ten minutes away in opposite directions. Who all then drive the ten minutes home and continue to spread it in four separate, previously untouched areas.

Isn’t the issue more about spreading the virus to places it isn’t at the moment - ie an element of containment?

Makes sense to me but wait for the face plant emojis telling you how selfish you are, and how THE RULES apply to you.

Yanbu I went for a walk this evening after finishing my wfh and I have never seen as many people out walking. I turned around and went back home as just didn't feel safe. I was having to go on to the road to keep my 2m away from some of the walkers. This is usually a fairly quiet area too.

Cross- post (but you explained it better Cerise!)

Yes it's fucking stupid. We live in inner city London and it means we literally can't go out as there are too many of us locally to maintain a safe distance. We haven't got a garden.

i can drive less than 3 miles for a lovely walk through woods and fields, all along public footpaths, i was hoping to do that tomorrow.