Everybody’s got a friend that likes to yell at the TV screen (or theater screen) to complain about characters in horror projects not doing common sense things, but in the case of Rick & Co., zombie sense isn’t common at all.
Robert Kirkman conceived The Walking Dead as both a zombie action drama and a commentary on the undead subgenre, in that his story wouldn’t just end as all zombie movies do.
Kirkman’s characters would have to continue living in this world, and without any of them having endured a lifetime of entertainment choices that featured zombies rising from the grave with a hunger for brains.