The Garden City Telegram

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Burmese drivers seen as safety concern

Published 6/30/2009 in Local News

By SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

A developing pattern of parking accidents at a local apartment complex has raised some concerns for some area community members, including one landlord.

Steve Burgess, the property owner of Garden Spot Rentals, 305 W. Mary St., said since 2005 there have been about 15 incidents in which tenants have crashed into his rental property while attempting to park or leave the parking lot.

Ten or 11 similar incidents over the last two years have involved members of Burmese families, many of which have formed a community at the complex, Burgess said.

In the latest incident Sunday, one of Burgess' tenants, Ya Sin, 33, 305 W. Mary St., Apt. C7, drove a van into a bench in front of his residence on which his 9-year-old son was seated. Officials from the Garden City Police Department who responded to the accident reported that Sin accidently hit the gas instead of the brake, Sgt. Michael Reagle of the GCPD said. The 9-year-old suffered only minor scrapes from the incident, and Burgess has not yet assessed property damage.

However, Burgess said his concern about his and other tenants' safety is growing.

"We're trying very hard to accommodate for them, but there's clearly a problem," Burgess said, adding that in his experience many of the drivers, most of whom have caused several thousands of dollars of property damage, have been new and inexperienced drivers. The GCPD has responded to at least four incidents similar to Sunday's accident at the location since March.

Burgess has expressed his concerns previously about the safety of his residents, especially children, during a meeting earlier this month with the Burmese Refugee Community of Southwest Kansas, when many of his tenants gathered to communicate with him and other area social service agencies. Burgess and the families present agreed after the meeting to designate a portion of the property that previously served as a parking lot to allow children to play where there would be no threat of moving vehicles.

Verna Weber, an assistant director with the western Kansas region of Social and Rehabilitation Services and a community leader of the Refugee Support Task Force that includes several businesses and community organizations, said Monday that drivers' education is a serious concern among the area's refugee population.

"(The drivers) need to fully learn the laws and signs, and it's something we're working on," Weber said.

Free drivers' education courses are available at the Refugee Center at the Garden City Community College's Adult Learning Center, said Velia Mendoza, a refugee coordinator. However, because of limited resources, classes run on a rolling basis dependent on student needs and are capped at 10 students, she said.

Dwa Tho, a part-time case manager at GCCC's refugee center, said many of the Burmese adults he works with on a daily basis are acquiring licenses and purchasing vehicles for the first time in their lives.

Tho, a Burmese refugee himself, said the majority of families were peasants or farmers before they fled to refugee camps to escape the unrest that has fallen over their militarily-ruled southeast Asian country over the last several decades.

"When we were in Burma, if we saw a car or motorcycle, chances are it was in a movie," he said and laughed, adding that cars or other vehicles are far too expensive for the average family to own or operate back in Burma.

Tho said many of the individuals he knows are eager to drive and drive well, but familiarity with operating a vehicle and language barriers still are concerns that need serious attention.

On the Web:

What do you think should be done to make sure refugees learn to drive safely? Talk about it at SWKTalk.com.

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