Whenever there is a road accident, citizens passing by are reluctant to come to the rescue of the accident victim and shift the person to the hospital for urgent treatment. This attitude is probably prevalent because of the legal implications involved. The ‘Good Samaritan’ could be made a witness to the accident and may have to make several rounds to the police station and probably even to the courts. In order to encourage citizens to help accident victims, the road ministry has reportedly said that it has launched a scheme for ‘Good Samaritans’ under which a cash award of Rs 5,000 will be given to those who save the life of a road accident victim by rushing the victim to the hospital within the ‘golden hour’. Principal and transport secretaries of all states have reportedly been informed to implement the scheme from October 15. It is learnt that each cash award would be accompanied with a certification of appreciation. Besides this ten national awards of one lakh each would be given for the most worthy 'Good Samaritans'. This is a novel way of encouraging citizens to come to the aid of the road accident victims.
