Good Samaritan Law (India)

India's Good Samaritan Law was passed as a Bill by the Supreme court of India on March 30, 2016 and gave the "Force of Law" to the guidelines for the protection of Good Samaritans and then issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways[1] . In the consecutive months, the state governments have passed GO (Government Order).[2] [3][4] Later, it was included in the draft of Motor Vehicle Act 2019.[5] Also issued were operating procedures for Good Samaritans.[6] Important points stated are

  • Police should not involve the Good Samaritans[7] for investigation.
  • Hospitals should not refuse to treat the accident victims and should not charge for First Aid.
  • Good Samaritans should be protected from civil and criminal liability.
  • Good Samaritans need not reveal their identity.
  • Good Samaritans can choose to be an eye witness, and should not be compelled otherwise.
Good Samaritan Law
Supreme Court of India
Territorial extentWhole of States and Union Territories of India
Enacted bySupreme Court of India
Enacted30 March 2016
Status: In force

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
Campaign Poster of Thozhan for Good Samaritan Law Day awareness

To educate the public on issues of concern either nationally or globally, a day is required where a multitude of individuals from all walks of life get involved, in a way or another and hence for the same reason, 30th March 2020 was first celebrated as Good Samaritan Law Day in India by Thozhan, an NGO based in Chennai. 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 such as live traffic signals, parks, beaches, etc. every week where their volunteers holding awareness placards & banners interact and remind commuters about the importance of following traffic rules and safety gears. And special campaigns happen during Road Safety Week[11] and other national days of importance by doing cosplay[12][13] to promote road safety in public places. Few of the major activities done by them for educating the importance of road safety are conducting Traffic Awareness Campaign in 100 signals at same day and same time by involving thousands of youngsters from various volunteering organizations, student groups and public 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 Golden Hour first aid training in more than 75 public parks respectively at the same day and same time by the volunteers certified by GVK EMRI. During the First Good Samaritan Law Day, they educated and created 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. This was followed by giving representation to the State and Central Government authorities to announce this day officially.

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References
  1. "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways", Wikipedia, 2020-04-30, retrieved 2020-05-01
  2. India, Press Trust of (22 October 2016). "Tamil Nadu government passes GO". Business Standard India.
  3. "Go passed in Tamil Nadu". NDTV.
  4. "GO passed in Tamil Nadu". The Hindu. 22 October 2016.
  5. "Motor Vehicle Act 2019" (PDF). National Informatics Centre.
  6. "Operating procedure for Good Samaritans" (PDF). tnsta.gov.in.
  7. "Good Samaritan" (PDF). Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
  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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