Sad story this weekend about an elderly couple lost on the roads of Eastern Ohio. Stuck in the mud and the husband dies.

The truly sad part is that the couple was stopped--twice--by local police. Once by the Monroe County Sheriff and once by Shadyside cops. The Bridgeport, WV pair was driving only around 30MPH as they wandered trying to find their way to Kent, Ohio. They were stopped for driving too slow. But they were then allowed to go on their way.

I don't want to fault the cops, but this is clearly "reverse discrimination". "Impaired driving" takes a lot of forms, and it's not just drunk or doped up teens who are hazards on the road. We're talking about cracking down on cell phone use and texting while driving, but an elderly and confused couple, a too-tired middle-aged businessman are just as much a danger (to themselves and others). Cops shouldn't have arrested the pair, but I wonder why they didn't offer more help. "Let me take you to the courthouse and we'll call a relative" or something of that sort.

Again, I'm not jumping on the cops. I'm sure they felt they were being kind. No one deserves punishment or criticism, but maybe we can learn from this sad story to be more alert for ALL the hazards on our roads.

Another issue is why the pair was still driving at all. Apparently they have Alzheimer's. It's another example of why we should have more frequent drivers tests for everyone. Tested at 16, maybe again at 30, 40, 50 and every 5 years after that. Yearly tests after 70. Just thinking out loud.