As parents, our number one priority is our kids. I have two daughters and am probably over protective. We set a lot of limitations, precautions and care for them. It is hard to trust others with our kids, maybe even with our own parents (their grandparents!).

Guess what? Maybe we are wrong. There’s a new study which shows that children are less likely to be injured if grandparents are driving as compared to the parents. That is your kids are more likely to be involved in a car accident when they are with you. I find this unbelievable!

The study was based on data from nearly 12, 000 children from 15 U.S. states between 2003 and 2007 injured in car crashes involving children younger than 16. This study was published in the journal Pediatrics. Dr. Fred M. Henretig, an emergency medicine physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is the lead researcher on the study. 0.7 percent of children were injured in the crash when grandparents were driving compared to 1 percent when parents were the one driving.

Older drivers are just not as safe. That is the general consensus. We think that grandparents driving is worse because they used old cars and they lack knowledge in new technologies.

There are factors that Dr. Henretig cited as reasons for the lower injury risk of children when with their grandparents.

* Grandparents drive at a lower speed
* Grandparents do not following the car in front of them quite as closely,
* Grandparents think that grandchildren are special cargo,
* Grandparents are less distracted than busy working parents tend to be.
* Grandparents focus on their driving and refrain from distractions like using cell phones, fiddling with the radio, eating while driving or thinking about their work.

The bottom line is that the risk of being injured in a Kentucky car accident goes down when we care about what we are doing and are not distracted. Focus on driving and your risk of being injured in a car accident will likely decrease.

Just when you think you have heard everything you read a story about the death of a two year old that just turns your stomach. It makes you think how could this happen?

The Rasansky Law Firm out of Dallas, Texas has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the mother of a 2-year-old girl who choked to death at The Woodbridge Day School, a northeast Dallas daycare center, one year ago. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the daycare worker had no first aid training and the daycare owned by Neyse and Robert Hall, knew it. According to the lawsuit, employees at the Woodbridge Day School did not notice when 2-year old Isabella Estep started choking on a small rock. The child then collapsed inside the school. Despite employees being all around the unconscious child, five to 10 minutes passed before anyone noticed something was wrong. Tragically, Isabella passed away after being transported to a local hospital.

Now here is where it gets worse. It is alleged that the owners of the daycare sold the daycare a short time after the death. This was in an effort to prevent a report to the Texas licensing board according to the lawsuit. Jeff Rasansky said. “They have not been truthful about their role in this child’s death, and they have taken steps to prevent parents of other children from ever learning about their involvement.”

This is a tragedy that sounds like it could have been prevented on several levels. Those being hiring and training. Also, what procedures were in place for monitoring a two year old? Why was the child put in an area without a care giver where he had access to small rocks?  My sympathies go out to the family. I hope they get the answers they deserve. My daughters were in day cares from the time they were infants so my wife could work. You place your trust and leave our most valued possession with them. It is very sad when a daycare does not live up to the trust you put in them.

We will follow this case as it progresses with hope of preventing this sort of tragedy from happening in Kentucky.