To drive to take dog for walk

[Chimpd0g]

Before you hurl abuse, please hear me out

I have 2 choices of where to take dog for walk locally:

1. small busy park within walking distance, getting there by walking along pavements therefore risking infecting others or getting infected myself or
2. driving literally 5 minutes up the road and walking in a bigger open space where I won’t see many people, and if I do I can easily go the other way and avoid them

Surely it’s better for everyone if I go in the car?

Yep.

Better for everyone if you walk and stick to the guidelines.

If it's 'literally' a five minute drive, it's walkable

No it’s not better for everyone to walk along a busy road to walk the dog. Get in the car and go somewhere quiet.

Yes, literally 5 minutes in the car is walkable surely?

Everyone will come on to scream that you're breaking the rules and you're the reason we're all suffering cos it's the rulez.

The guidelines are exactly that, guidelines. If you are genuinely going to run into less people by driving somewhere in the car then yes, that's the obvious thing to do.

I do it. Every day I drive to a secluded spot and walk the dog along the river. We both get an hours walk and that's enough for us both. Then my husband takes him for a smaller walk round the block at night. Everyone gets their daily walk, and none of us come that close to anyone. Whereas if we both went along the same route there's more chance of bumping into the same people, so of course it makes more sense to take the car somewhere quieter

Small park but choose a less busy time of the day, early morning or in the evening.

If it's a 5 minute drive can you walk it? We aren't meant to drive for dog walks

And why does it need to be the park? Just walk around your area and move on to/cross the road to avoid others

It's better for everyone if you stick to the guidelines.
You know the answer, when/if the police stop you, will you say. Mumsnet told me I could?

Why not. Make the most of it though because all exercise will be banned in a few days because of everyone having the same thought process as you.

I really want to know why we aren't supposed to drive to walk dogs. Surely the point of us all isolating and severely limited going out is to lessen the chance of contact with people outside your household.

If you walk past 3 people on the route you'd normally drive, how is that any safer than driving somewhere you can safely get in the car alone, get out the car alone, and walk past nobody?

And if everyone did that, PipGirl404? They’re rules, not guidelines, and if you don’t start following them then we’ll all be on enforced lockdown. HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE RULES APPLY TO EVERYONE?

If everyone did it, it would be a problem and I wouldn't do it.

It's not black and white, it entirely depends on your area? If I walked around my house which is in a new build estate type thing, I'd be guaranteed to walk past at a minimum 2/3 people.

If I get in the car and drive to a small car park that has so far been empty, I run into no one.

I'm doing the thing that lessens the chance of being anywhere near other people.

Cars on the road, that is why! Accidents which put more strain on the NHS. Plus the fact that people move the virus! Stay at home.

Because, @PipGirl404, every time you drive somewhere you increase the traffic on the roads, thus increasing the chances of accidents and breakdowns, which (a) increase the number of possible virus-spreading opportunities and (b) potentially add to the NHS load if people are hurt.

No non-essential journeys should be taken. Driving to walk your dog is not an essential journey. Don't do it.

It’s empty because people are following the rules, a lot of people will be wanting to do the same as you but they don’t because they know they shouldn’t. If everyone ignored the rules like you... can you honestly not see this?

Yes!!!

Why ask on here? The know it alls will tell you no,despite it being confirmed.........again on Friday that you can.

@PipGirl404 on my way home from work the other night , I saw one car broken down on a roundabout and an accident at a set of traffic lights where one car had rear ended the other, police and ambulance present. People/services had to attend those scenes, increasing contact and using public resources that are thinly spread already. The more people use their cars unnecessarily the higher the number of incidents to deal with and the greater number of contamination possibilities. I'd love to be able to stay at home sadly the nature of my work precludes it on public protection grounds. Stay at home and stop going anywhere unless you absolutely HAVE to. It's not rocket science.

It's the issue of more people being on the roads. Eventually you'll need to fill up with petrol - coming into contact with people at the petrol station.
Having an accident while driving - and putting the NHS under more pressure. Getting a flat tire, breaking down etc.
None of these things would happen if you walked from your house.

It's unnecessary and we have been told not to do it. But obviously you're a special case and the rules don't apply to you.

Well, no, sorry. The risk of me driving a less than 5 minute journey down a long country road is less of a risk than me running into someone round my area that may or may not have coronavirus.

I will continue to drive to somewhere secluded so I don't see anyone else.

I'm sorry but you cannot sit on a website and tell someone that what they're doing is categorically more risk than the alternative. It completely depends on the area you live in and the dynamics of it.

I quite clearly wouldn't drive on a busy road or spend longer than 5 minutes driving somewhere, I've assessed the risk based on where I live, and I've decided to drive the 5 minute journey.

No, the thing that lessens the chance of bumping into people is staying at home but so far the government haven’t enforced this. If people keep travelling then they move the virus. If you live on an estate then cross the road or go when it’s quieter. Exercise is a necessity, it’s not an opportunity to get out and go somewhere nicer.

For a few weeks it's probably best to stick to the guidelines. And walk within walking distance of your house. We have 3 dogs and are doing our best to go out at night when there are less people around

Yes exercise absolutely is a necessity and I couldn't realistically go out for an hour around my estate. That's not possible. Should I go out for 2 half hour walks a day? No can't do that either it's against the rules.

I've gotten advice from my friends husband who is a policeman, I don't know if it's an area by area basis but he advised if I was stopped and explained my reasoning there would be issue.

I’m not telling you - the government and the police are telling you!!!!

You’ve decided to do what you want, you’ve decided to contribute to the problem which will encourage enforced lockdown. Great, I wish more people were like you.