Driving to exercise - updated guidance?

[Goatymcgoaty]

First you could.
Then you couldn’t.
Gov.uk now says this:

14. Can I drive to a national park or other green space to walk? We advise you to stay local and use open spaces near to your home where possible – do not travel unnecessarily.

Why are they being so ambiguous about this? Can you drive if you stay local? At what point does it become “unnecessary”? Guidance seems to be changing quite quickly on a lot of of the FAQ’s. What’s everyone else now doing?

I’m going to drive to somewhere for a walk. If I get stopped, I’ll say I’m going to the supermarket

I would say that still says no travelling. You can go anywhere within walking distance directly from your home

Really people need to use their common sense so if they genuinely can't exercise from home (eg child with SEND needs who needs to be somewhere safe / live on a national speed limit road so would drive to somewhere close) then drive, but if it's perfectly possible to exercise from home then stay home and refrain from driving places just because you fancy a change.

Naturally this will be problematic because some people have decided that they'd PREFER to go somewhere nice and as it's not illegal to drive then they'll do whatever they jolly well feel like because nobody can stop them.

My common sense says if I drive somewhere fairly close and no one else is there, I'm still very successfully social distancing.

My common sense says there's many lovely local places i could drive to, but I don't because it's perfectly safe to exercise from home so driving there's is an unnecessary journey.

I thought you could drive 1 mile away?

thing is - you can't be fined for breaking common sense but you can be fined for breaking the law.

It is not against the law to drive somewhere in order to exercise, it's simply that the government would rather you didn't do it.

And in order to turn guidance in to law you need new legislation and it seems that the government has neither the inclination, time or wherewithal to update the legislation. Thus, ambiguity will remain.

It is not against the law to drive somewhere in order to exercise, it's simply that the government would rather you didn't do it.
It's right that the legislation is written in that way. There's absolutely times when driving is required, just like it's right that there's no numerical amount of shops specified because different families will have different needs.

Unfortunately you can't legislate for compassion and you can't legislate against selfishness, so there's always going to be people claiming that they really did need to go buy a chocolate bar, that a magazine was essential for them, that they're going to drive somewhere nicer because it's not illegal.

We do need some people to catch the virus every day and it's tricky ethically to ask for volunteers so yes go for it

It seems clear enough to me.

1 Stay local - unambiguous
2 Use the spaces near your home if possible. 'If possible ' allows for the fact that there may be some specific cases where it isn't possible

Surely anyone with an ounce of sense can work out if it's necessary to travel or not? And certainly when it isn't:

It's not necessary to travel because you're bored with your locality.
It's not necessary to travel because there's somewhere nicer than your locality.

We do need some people to catch the virus every day and it's tricky ethically to ask for volunteers so yes go for it
So you’re saying OP is at greater risk of catching the virus by going somewhere not walking distance away from her home ?

To me it is pretty clear cut.

The government want us to stay at home as much as possible.

I can exercise at home.

Therefore I don't need to go outside to exercise. I could .... it's not illegal .... but is it the most socially responsible thing to do in the current climate? No ... I personally don't think it is.

What gets me is all the people suddenly running, riding their bikes and going for walks when I know for a fact that amount of people weren't doing so pre lock down; if you do the same commute for years and years along the same route you tend to notice the amount of people who run or ride and I've never seen so many people exercising in all my life.

What gets me is all the people suddenly running, riding their bikes and going for walks when I know for a fact that amount of people weren't doing so pre lock down

Aren't the gyms and pools closed? And organised sports I assume not taking place? Not in the UK but this is the case where I am. It's not hard to see why preventing lots of people from doing their normal exercise would lead to an increase in people doing other forms of exercise - they're taking what they can get.

if you do the same commute for years and years along the same route you tend to notice the amount of people who run or ride and I've never seen so many people exercising in all my life.

They could have previously been exercising at a gym or with a sports club. Or they could have previously exercised at a different time but now due to working differently and schools being closed it's more convenient to exercise at the time you're seeing them. Or people who previously felt like they didn't have time due to a long commute are now spending their commuting time taking up the exercise they always meant to.

What's wrong with any of that?

What gets me is all the people suddenly running, riding their bikes and going for walks when I know for a fact that amount of people weren't doing so pre lock down; Some people were exercising at gyms or by playing football, some people were driving out of their area to exercise, eg by hillwalking at the weekend. Some people were getting walking exercise as part of their commute, or had jobs that kept them fairly active. All these people are turning to walking, cycling or running to replace the levels of activity that they used to have in their lives.

There's no part of the law or the guidance that says "You may leave the house once a day to do the same exercise as you used to do; but if your usual exercise is not available to you, then then you must stay indoors"

People probably want to take exercise as it'll help if they get corona. Vitamin D and fitness/lung capacity.
I'm able to walk to get exercise where i live as i live round the corner from a pretty quiet park where i can be nowhere near other people, but i can see that if other people in cities had to walk they'd probably be passing loads of people and might be better off driving somewhere with more space.

And just to add to this - you’ve got more chance of surviving CV if you are fit and healthy. We need strong lungs and lots of Vitamin D to fight this.

Many of us will get CV 19 when we’re released from lockdown. Using this time to get fit and well should not be something any of us should be made to feel ashamed of.

I think people are out more than before because they are more at home.

I observe people going to the shops daily and exercising daily just because they can and the weather is good.

There's families out taking walks who look really freaked out by the whole experience cos it's not their normal.

What gets me is all the people suddenly running, riding their bikes and going for walks when I know for a fact that amount of people weren't doing so pre lock down; if you do the same commute for years and years along the same route you tend to notice the amount of people who run or ride and I've never seen so many people exercising in all my life.

This is a good thing. Exercise is good for you. If you can’t start a new habit in a lockdown, when can you? Plus, for people’s mental health it’s good to get out of the house (safely) and enjoy the sunshine.

I've got proof of my regular walking since the start of this year on an MN thread - but where I'm walking, even from my home, has changed during this time.

There's no part of the law or the guidance that says "You may leave the house once a day to do the same exercise as you used to do; but if your usual exercise is not available to you, then then you must stay indoors
I have a feeling some people wish that was the law

I will be one of the new people walking as I used a gym every day (3 times a week for physio 4 for swimming). My DP and DD the same, I'm not sure why everyone has such an issue with people exercising on here!

There's families out taking walks who look really freaked out by the whole experience cos it's not their normal.

Presumably the kids would normally be getting at least some exercise at school, especially the younger ones.

I'm not sure why everyone has such an issue with people exercising on here!

'Everyone' doesn't, it's an annoying minority.