Good Samaritan Law (India)

India's Good Samaritan Law was passed as a Bill in 2016 by the Supreme court of India and in the consecutive years, the state governments have passed GO (Government Order).[1] [2][3] Later, it became a law in Motor Vehicle Act 2019.[4] Also issued were operating procedures for Good Samaritans.[5] Important points stated are 1)Police should not involve the Good Samaritans[6] for investigation. 2)Hospitals should not refuse to treat the accident victims and should not charge for First Aid. 3) Good Samaritans should be protected from civil and criminal liability. 4)Good Samaritans need not reveal their identity. 5) Good Samaritans can choose to be an eye witness, and should not be compelled otherwise. The supreme court of India gave the "Force of Law" to the guidelines for the protection of Good Samaritans on March 30, 2016. It was issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways[7]

Campaign Poster of Thozhan for Good Samaritan Law Day awareness

Background

India is the second largest country in the world after China to lose more number of lives in road accidents. As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways statistics.[8] 1317 crashes and 413 deaths everyday or 55 crashes and 17 deaths every hour happen due to road crashes in India. More than 50% accident victims die because they don't receive medical attention during the Golden Hour. In reality, by standers don't often come to help the accident victims, fearing legal intervention. Good Samaritan laws exist in many countries to provide legal protection to bystanders who assist accident victims.

Awareness and impact

Good Samaritan Law Day in India was first celebrated on 30th March 2020 by Thozhan, an NGO based in Chennai to educate and create awareness about this law through online campaign where more than 500 volunteers and public pledged to be a Good Samaritans and also taught their family members about the Good Samaritan Law. They organised virtual pledging through google sheets, video & audio forms in order to reach out the public during the Covid19 lock down. Thozhan have been working on various activities like environmental conservation, coastal cleanups, leadership development, community empowerment, etc. from 2007 across Tamil Nadu. Of these activities, road safety[9] was being concentrated extensively from 2013 in the aim of transforming our country as an "Accident Free Nation" where they conduct "Traffic Awareness Campaigns" [10]in public places every week and special campaigns during Road Safety Week[11]such as cosplay[12][13] to promote road safety in live traffic signal junctions where their volunteers will be holding awareness placards & banners from 2013. Few of the major activities done by them in public for educating the importance of road safety are conducting Traffic Awareness Campaign in 100 signals at same day and same time in 2014[14],2015[15],2016[16] and foot board awareness[17][18] for public commuters across Chennai in 67 bus stops which is a step to prevent accidents from happening. In the year 2017[19], 2018[20], 2019[21][22], mega awareness drive was carried out in public parks to create awareness about Good Samaritan Law and first aid training by the volunteers certified by GVK EMRI.

References
  1. India, Press Trust of (22 October 2016). "Tamil Nadu government passes GO". Business Standard India.
  2. "Go passed in Tamil Nadu". NDTV.
  3. "GO passed in Tamil Nadu". The Hindu. 22 October 2016.
  4. "Motor Vehicle Act 2019" (PDF). National Informatics Centre.
  5. "Operating procedure for Good Samaritans" (PDF). tnsta.gov.in.
  6. "Good Samaritan" (PDF). Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
  7. "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways", Wikipedia, 2020-04-30, retrieved 2020-05-01
  8. "Accident statistics". Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
  9. "Thozhan's job is your safety, create awareness about helping accident victims". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  10. "'Yama' the god of death on Chennai streets to teach road safety rules". News18. 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  11. 100010509524078 (2016-05-03). "Campaigning for road safety". dtNext.in. Retrieved 2020-05-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. "When Batman, Superman and Spiderman came to educate Chennai folks on traffic rules". www.thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  13. "This NGO got students to cosplay Batman, Superman at traffic signals for road safety". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  14. "Mission to Free State of Accidents". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  15. "Thozhan Spreads The Word About Traffic Rules, at 100 Signals in City". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  16. "A campaign with 'Lord Yama' at forefront". The Hindu. 2016-08-09. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  17. Jan 29, Kamini Mathai | TNN | Updated; 2016; Ist, 05:37. "NGO kickstarts campaign against footboard | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-05-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. "Please Don't Ride Footboard on Buses: Thozhan Members". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  19. Aug 7, TNN | Updated; 2017; Ist, 08:23. "Road safety awareness: Group takes road safety awareness to 71 parks | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-05-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. Aug 4, TNN |; 2018; Ist, 10:33. "Workshops to create awareness: Workshops to create awareness on golden hour | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-05-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. 100010509524078 (2019-08-12). "Creating an army of good Samaritans in Chennai". dtNext.in. Retrieved 2020-05-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. V, Mahesh (2019-08-09). "Golden hour, CPR and more: Life-saving lessons we should all know |". Citizen Matters, Chennai. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
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