By introducing its well planned Good Samaritan Bill, Karnataka has taken a giant step forward in ensuring better road safety. The main objective behind this legislation is to avoid harassment from police or other sources for people who try to help accident victims.
President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the Bill and observers hope that in time all states will follow Bengaluru’s lead.
As Karnataka authorities have explained, the fear of endless queries from the police and medical officials in different states discourages even the gentlest of people from helping those in distress after a road accident. ‘Let the police handle it, no trouble please’ seems to be the unwritten universal code of behaviour among most Indians.
Instead of helping, people are busier nowadays taking selfies at accident sites, chasing their 10 seconds of’ fame’ on social media.
Hopefully, Karnataka’s move will help to restore social decencies once more.
In all accidents, the critically important period is the first ‘golden’ hour, according to experts, when it comes to giving emergency medical help, no matter how primitive, whether it is conducting CPR or bandaging severed arteries to prevent blood spilling.
The Bill makes clear that anyone who provides or tries to give whatever medical assistance to injured people, will NOT be harassed by officialdom afterwards. The same goes for those who try to call in official help from the police, ambulance, the home guard, etc.
In 2015, altogether 146133 people died across the county as result of 501423 road accidents. A year later the figures were, 150785 and 480652 respectively, indicating an increase in fatalities. Clearly such accidents are a major killer in India. Karnataka is among the top five states afflicted by traffic and safety problems, the situation in Bangalore itself worsening sharply in recent years.
Without talking about the prevailing scenario in the country, let us take the example of West Bengal. Bengal, accounts for the fourth highest number of road accidents, around 5000 cases annually. Alarmingly, whereas the fatality percentage to all accidents is around 13% nationally, for Bengal it is staggeringly high at around 52%, according to National Road Safety Council authorities. Surely the Ministry of Transport in Bengal owes the public an explanation for its obvious failure to protect valuable lives.
So taking a cue from Karnataka, other states too should take similar measures to ensure road safety.
