Patna: The transport department, as part of road safety week, has launched a special drive to implement the Supreme Court ruling that protects Good Samaritans who take accident victims to hospital.
In March 2016, the apex court had put its stamp on government guidelines to protect Good Samaritans, but bystanders often avoid taking accident victims to hospital because they do not want to be drawn into police proceedings.
The guidelines followed a Supreme Court judgment on a petition filed by a non-government organisation, Save Life Foundation.
The rulings have special importance in Bihar, which was one of the 13 states that accounted for 86 per cent of road accident deaths in the country in the year 2016. Even on Sunday, at least 12 persons were killed in separate accidents across Bihar.
Like wearing seatbelts, not harassing persons who bring road accident victims to hospital is mandated by law but often not implemented in Bihar. The state transport department has now set up a standard operating procedure for police and hospitals - both government run as well as private ones - to ensure that those who bring injured to hospitals are not harassed.
"The initiative would be launched from Monday when road safety week will commence," said transport department secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal. "The main motive is to encourage people to help the injured during accidents. Normally, people avoid and ignore the injured on the road fearing unnecessary harassment and also because of the fear of getting involved in a police case."
The department, Agarwal said, will also felicitate Good Samaritans with a memento.
Around 4,000 people died in road accidents in Bihar last year, Agarwal said, and the number would have been smaller if passers-by would have taken the initiative to rake the injured to nearby hospitals. Timely intervention during the golden hour - the first 60 minutes after an accident - can save many lives, he stressed.
Agarwal said he has issued notices to all district magistrates and senior superintendents of police and superintendents of police to ensure proper implementation of the Good Samaritan drive (see chart).
