Covid, Non-Essential Travel and the Wider Picture
30th December 2020
My personal views.
Lots of pre news recently about people travelling to the amazing places in the UK that have free access to roam, such as Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, Lake District etc.
Unfortunately, the press has been negative and Police forces have been out in force ensuring people adhere to the rules.
Now there are a couple of things here that need deconstructing.
Parking
Parking at Pen y Fan (both car parks) is always a nightmare. You arrive early, before dawn, and you get a car park. Arrive around 9am onwards and you are lucky. 10am onwards and you will have to park on the grass.
It’s that parking on the grass that is illegal by the way. It’s causing a nuisance to other road users, creating damage to the verges and is the cause for many augume3nts and car bumps/shunts.
So, take Covid away and the issue re parking is still valid.
Non-Essential Travel
This is the other aspect of travelling to wide-open spaces.
Honestly, I get it why people want to. I mean, I run a business based on being outdoors!
From the Scottish Governments website –
“People who live in a Level 3 or 4 local authority area in Scotland are required to stay in that area unless they have a reasonable excuse to travel, such as work, education, or welfare reasons – see travelling around Scotland. Non-essential travel, such as going on holiday, is not a reasonable excuse to leave a level 3 or 4 area.
From 26 December, until further notice, all parts of Scotland will be in Level 3 or Level 4 so travel to or from Scotland without a reasonable excuse is not permitted. See exceptions for a range of examples of reasons for which travel is permitted.”
In fact, all the devolved government websites say pretty much the same.
The Welsh Government advice
“Can I drive somewhere to exercise?
Exercise should be undertaken locally – from home or as close as possible to the home. In general this should not involve people driving to a location away from home for this purpose. No journeys of any significant distance should be taken, for example, just in order to exercise in the countryside or at beauty spots.
People with specific health or mobility issues may, however, need to travel from their home in order to be able to exercise. For example, some wheelchair users may not be able to start to exercise immediately outside their homes for practical access reasons, and may need to drive to a suitable flat location, such as a park, for this purpose. In these circumstances the journey should be to the nearest convenient accessible location and no long journeys should be undertaken unless absolutely necessary.
The need to carry sports equipment isn’t regarded as a justification on its own for driving in these circumstances.”
The Welsh Government advice is pretty clear “No journeys of any significant distance should be taken, for example, just in order to exercise in the countryside or at beauty spots.”
Hence the Police activity in the Brecon Beacons as well as Snowdonia National Park and other areas around the UK.
So the issue now is…
“Is travelling for my mental health classed as non-essential”
I’m not going to get into this argument here about what actually is mental health; however common sense (to me) would dictate that if you need to exercise outdoors for mental health issues than you can exercise outdoors. You limit the travel you do to get that exercise to local areas only.
Driving an hour or more to walk up a mountain when you have an open park 10 minutes away is non-essential travel.
Why does Covid make a difference?
Several reasons.
As can be seen from the advice given by various devolved governments, non-essential travel is NOT allowed.
Main Reasons Why?
1. It stops the spread of the virus into other areas of the UK.
2. It stops the infection of other people.
3. It preserves the limited resources within the NHS.
What Else?
Think broader now. Think more strategically.
The number of car accidents (RTA’s) dropped during the first major lockdown. Why? People listened to the advice and didn’t travel. That helped to reduce the strain on various emergency services, which in turn helped preserve the resources for the NHS for Covid patients.
Hence, non-essential travel.
The risk of you having an accident increases the more you drive and the longer you drive. It matters not how good a driver you are, how good your car is etc. It’s just risk.
So you decide to drive a few hours to get to Snowdonia or Brecon or the Lakes you are increasing the risk of an RTA and breaking the guidelines / law and risking summary fines from the Police.
I’m not going to have an RTA
I said that before ending upside down in a 1ton Landrover Defender in Bosnia with several cracked ribs, a broken finger and cracked sternum and eventually PTSD. Eventually, most people who drive will have a bump or two, some people will have a crash and some will have a serious accident.
Wider issues around non-essential travel.
So you drive an hour or several, you increase the chances of an accident. Especially at this time of the year with ice on the roads.
You have an accident.
You need to call out the Police. Two cars probably to deal with it. 4 Police officers risking their lives because you wanted to walk.
You need to call an ambulance. Hopefully just one, for you, but you never know who else you may have hit, so let’s call it two. That’s 4 ambulance staff or Paramedics on site.
Possibly a fire engine to deal with any fuel spillage? That’s another 6 people risking their lives to help you.
We now have a running total of 14 people risking their lives on the spot to help you.
Why risking their lives? Because you may be asymptomatic. You may be infected with Covid and not realise it.
Anyway. You get taken to a hospital. You are now taking up valuable NHS resources that, at this money in time, we need for patients suffering from Covid, and the cancer sufferers, the pregnant women, the real accidents for people working.
Because you wanted a walk in the mountains.
You may have been the cause of death for a Covid patient who needed the resources you took up. But you are ok with it because you wanted a walk in the mountains.
Didn’t have an accident? Great. But you did need Mountain Rescue Teams to come out and help.
That’s perhaps a team of 20 people, all volunteers, who once again put their lives at risk to help you.
Again. You may have been the cause of death for a Covid patient who needed the resources you took up. But you are ok with it because you wanted a walk in the mountains.
Excuses I’ve heard.
- I’m a free person to go where I want.
- You can’t get Covid on a mountain outdoors.
- I’m allowed to travel for exercise.
- It’s for my mental health.
- Supermarkets are full.
- Haven’t the coppers got anything better to do.
- The Police are trying to prevent the use of public land.
- You can’t even go outside now.
- We have sacrificed enough.
Yup. And there is a load more.
The excuses are made by people who don’t get the wider picture.