Delhiites are the least helpful when it comes to stopping for accident victims. Almost 96 per cent of citizens are unlikely to be the first responders in the event of a road accident, a survey conducted by the Save Life Foundation, an organisation working for the cause of road safety, has revealed.
While the number of people coming forward to help victims in Delhi stands at four per cent, the numbers in other cities are also not encouraging. The survey conducted in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Indore and Ludhiana revealed the deplorable state as people from Indore topped with only 50 per cent expressing their eagerness to help accident victims. This is exactly why India needs to put in place a “Good Samaritan Law”, feel road safety experts. Such a law would offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.
In some cases, Good Samaritan laws encourage people to offer assistance. The protection is intended to reduce bystanders’ hesitation to assist, for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury. Such a law, however, does not exist in India. But now the foundation for having one has been laid. The Save Life Foundation that had filed a PIL in the matter has also prepared a rough draft of recommendations to be included in the law and will present it before the Supreme Court on October 29. If and once the recommendations are approved by the Supreme Court, they will be converted into a statute to be further presented in Parliament. Some of the recommendations include exempting a Good Samaritan from civil and criminal liability. “One of the biggest reasons that people do not want to help accident victims is because of the legal hassles they have to go through later on. Our suggestion is that the person who is bringing the victim to the hospital should be relieved from all formalities on the same day itself. If possible, his statement should be video recorded, so that it can be referred to in future,” said Piyush Tewari, founder and president of the Foundation.
Another recommendation said, “They (Samaritans) should not be forced to reveal their identity. On fulfilment of medico-legal formalities, they should be examined at their residence/place of work.” “They should be allowed to make their statement through affidavits, and only in exceptional cases should they be summoned in court,” it added. The recommendations also suggested that there should be ambulances and first-aid centres every 30 km on national highways. A petition demanding a “Good Samaritan Law” has also been floated online and is garnering an overwhelming response . It is expected to get 50,000 signs by the end of the week. The countries which already have Good Samaritan laws include China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, the United States, and Canada. The laws, however, vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
