The Fort Morgan Police Department, the Somali Community Office and Lutheran Family Services of Colorado are all looking at ways to improve driver education for refugees who come to Morgan County.
There has been mounting community concern over the number of accidents, both large and small, in which Somalis have been involved over the past few months, said Fort Morgan Police Chief Keith Kuretich.
Somali Community Office volunteer Khadar Ducaale said Somalis also realize there is a problem.
Mohamed Najji Mohamed of Fort Morgan was killed in a car crash in early June and was the victim of bad driving by the Somali driver of the car in which he was a passenger, Ducaale said.
The Somali community is as concerned about poor driving skills as everyone else, he added, since its members are at risk, too.
It is not so much that Somalis or other East Africans intentionally disobey the law, but that they do not seem to know what they should be doing and don’t seem to have good physical driving skills, said Morgan County Sheriff Jim Crone.
Although the Colorado State Patrol does the reports on accidents in unincorporated Morgan County, Crone said his deputies have told him about what they’ve seen of Somali driving skills.
Morgan County has had other immigrants from other nations, but has never seen this degree of problem with driving, Crone said. Some Somalis have difficulty staying in one lane or recognizing what to do at traffic signals, he said.
Of course, there are poor driving skills among drivers who are not Somali, Kuretich emphasized. Like any new drivers, they seem to be struggling to learn.
That is why FMPD is trying to put together an educational program in conjunction with Morgan Community College to address what new drivers need to know, he said.
The department has done workshops on local laws, but this would be a seminar specifically focusing on driving and the rules of the road. It might be given at MCC and/or Cargill Meat Solutions, where many Somalis work.
Ducaale said he and the Somali elders are encouraging members of their community to take driver education courses in order to learn what road signs mean and how to drive under various conditions — over and above what they have done to earn their driver’s licenses.
Sometimes it is hard to understand what to do when an individual cannot read English signs, he said. It might help to have some translated material to help Somalis learn about the subtleties of the road.
Among Ducaale’s plans are to start a driving school and another English school for members of the Somali community.
Ducaale said he is looking into the whole situation in order to save lives of both Morgan County residents and its new immigrants.
Lutheran Family Services has heard similar concerns in other communities, both inside and outside Colorado, said Susan Anderson, case management supervisor for LFS.
Some states provide funding for driver training for refugees, but Colorado does not, she said.
LFS officials are talking with the state refugee coordinator’s office about ideas to make driver training resources available in order to address everyone’s concerns, Anderson said.
They are also looking to see if there is funding available somewhere for driver training, she said.
LFS officials plan to meet with Morgan County officials and partners to address the issue, Anderson said.
Testing
Some wonder how anyone can receive a driver’s license with such poor driving skills, but those involved in accidents do have licenses and insurance, Kuretich said.
Law enforcement officers have limited things they can do to prevent bad driving, he said.
They can give a driver a warning, give him a summons to go to court for a violation, or ask the Division of Motor Vehicles to re-test the driver, Kuretich said.
Officers can ask for re-testing if a person shows a pattern of questionable driving skills, he said.
Officers are doing all they can within the legal limits, but they will not single out any one ethnic group, Kuretich said. It is important to be fair to all drivers.
Kuretich said he has asked the DMV to scrutinize how it has been doing the testing of Somalis, because there is a greater per capita incidence of accidents among that group.
“That really is the only concern (with Somalis),” he said.
In other respects, they are very respectful of laws and customs, he said.
DMV spokesman Mark Couch said everyone has to pass the same driving tests — both written and road tests — to earn a driver’s license.
Those who do not speak English, like some Somalis, are allowed to have an interpreter with them while taking the written test, but they are monitored by division employees, he said.
Written tests in Colorado are available only in English and Spanish, Couch said.
Those taking the road test must know enough English to take the test and follow directions, he said.
In order to pass the tests, they must be able to recognize road signs and understand the requirements of the law, Couch said.
“There’s no special treatment given to anyone,” he said.
However, some people wonder if interpreters may be helping people to pass the written tests.
Crone said a deputy believed he heard an interpreter giving one Somali answers to the test, and notified the tester, who watched more carefully.
Crone said it is hard to believe that anyone could pass the tests with the level of skill some Somalis are showing.
However, Somalis do not have a larger percentage of their group passing the tests than any other population group, Couch said, which indicates there must not be much cheating.
Also, Crone said, some Somalis come to Colorado from other states, already having driver’s licenses, and there is no guarantee those states have the same level of requirements for licenses.
Another issue is whether some organizations might be pressing to have Somalis get licenses, or are helping them to get their licenses.
OneMorgan County, which helps immigrants and refugees to adapt to their new communities, does not help Somalis or anyone else to get licenses, said Executive Director Brenda Zion.
The only thing OMC may do is let immigrants know where to go to find out how to get a license and what to expect when they get to the DMV, she said.
OneMorgan County is available to direct immigrants to area services, but not to help them get a license directly, Zion said.
LFS Morgan County Case Manager Hussein Abdi also said he is not directly involved with helping anyone get a driver’s license, other than generally explaining the guidelines, letting them know how to learn about driving or telling them how to find the DMV.
Neither of the organizations pushes Somalis to get driver’s licenses or arranges for them to get licenses, they said.
Sometimes, Abdi said, LFS can find an interpreter for people to help them take the written test.
New world
Somalis themselves are trying to get a handle on the driving problem, Ducaale said.
They know that the U.S. justice system will honor individuals who honor the law, he said.
“We want to honor it,” Ducaale said.
Unfortunately, this is a population of people which is trying to recuperate from many tough years in refugee camps and the trauma of 20 years of civil war, he said. Many have never lived within a legal system or had a chance to drive, let alone drive on a complicated roadway system.
Somalis’ experiences are beyond the imagination of most people, because they have lived in lawless areas full of destruction and poverty, Ducaale said.
It takes time to adapt to a new country and to learn everything, he said. Some Somalis have never even seen a church or a court of law — and sometimes they do not understand the distinction between the church and state.
During discussions of the driving issue — including comments and exchanges on The Times’ Web site — some people have said things like Somalis should go back where they came from.
Those kinds of comments hurt, Ducaale said, because they seem to single out Somalis.
Also, Somali refugees do not even have the option of leaving the U.S. and returning to Somalia.
Somalis were offered political refuge after all the years of civil war showed that they could never return to their country, Ducaale said. They did not come to the U.S. illegally.
Personal cost
The Somali community is suffering from the driving issue, too, Ducaale said.
Members of the community took up a collection to pay for the burial of Mohamed, and have stayed alert to the conditions of the driver, Ali Aden, and another passenger, Bethel Zeru Haile, Ducaale said.
A spokesman at Denver Health Medical Center said Aden was still in serious condition, but Haile had been upgraded to fair condition as of this morning.
Aden had driven onto Interstate 76 going westbound in the eastbound lanes. His car and a car driven by Todd Crocker of Surprise, Ariz., collided head-on. Crocker sustained relatively minor injuries.
Mohamed’s wife and seven children live in a refugee camp in Yemen. He had come to Morgan County about nine months ago, Ducaale said.
Mohamed was a “hard-working man,” who was trying to save money to bring his family to the U.S. and sending money to his family to help them survive the camp, Ducaale said.
No one knows what will become of the family, he said.
“It has really shaken all of us,” Ducaale said.
Contact Dan Barker at business@fmtimes.com.
Source: The Fort Morgan Times
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