- Joined
- Jan 28, 2016
- Location
- uk
There was never any mention anywhere specifying if it was legal to drive to exercise which is what caused
the confusion,I searched everywhere after i was stopped and warned, all it said was you were allowed to
exercise once a day.It was down to the police to decide whether you had a reasonable reason to be driving
some forces said it was not. The only time it was clarified in black and white was in the new guidelines which
state it is acceptable.
The police must have more time now the roads are clearer and they dont have to spend almost all their
time at night dealing with drunken behaviour,If there was no point why do other countries do it
ok, then you have to assume it wasn't allowed. They stated what was allowed, they couldn't list everything that wasn't. It wasn't listed as something that was allowed, therefore it wasn't.
The fact that it is specifically mentioned in tomorrow's changes that you can travel for exercise also suggests it wasn't allowed before, otherwise why mention it.
The guidelines aren't law, they are what the police feel is a level of breaking the law that is appropriate to prosecute for, and in the public interest. It is never going to be in the public interest to fine 10's of thousands of people for minor breaches of the law, especially at a time when people are on reduced wages. Think of it like the way most forces operate a 10+3 approach to speeding. Whatever the limit they add 10% and 3mph onto it, if your speed is under that, they won't fine you. So it is EXTREMELY unlikely you will ever get pulled over for doing 75mph on the M1. You are breaking the law if you do 70.01mph, but guidance states not to prosecute, so they don't. This is no different, driving for exercise wasn't a reasonable excuse for leaving the house, but guidance tells them not to prosecute, so they don't, and rightly so, unless it becomes a problem. I guarantee the guidance would have been changed if suddenly we started to get queues of traffic at the coast and popular parks again.
Regardless of that, if you are vulnerable as you state, then you are breaking the rules by going out anywhere surely?
Were roadblocks not done by one force early on, I think the bad press would be enough to stop it happening again.




