Insight Bureau: With the increase of road accident deaths by 7% from January to May this year compared to the last year in Odisha, Transport Commissioner Arun Bothra took to Twitter to make people aware about the causes of rise in road fatalities.
“Many people don’t help accident victims thinking that it will land them in legal trouble. This misinformation has caused thousands of deaths on our roads”, Bothra said.
As per the new guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, a good samaritan can take the accident victim to hospital and leave immediately. No questions will be asked to him, said Arun Bothra.
A new section 134A titled ‘Protection of Good Samaritans’ was inserted through the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, which says ‘a Good Samaritan shall not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury or death of the victim of an accident involving a motor vehicle, where such injury or death resulted from the Good Samaritan’s negligence in acting or failing to act while rendering emergency medical or non-medical care or assistance.
