Founder and CEO SaveLIFE Foundation Piyush Tewari delivering a lecture at the Gomant Vidya Niketan on Wednesday. Pic Santosh Mirajkar.
THE GOAN NETWORK
MARGAO: Founder and CEO SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) Piyush Tewari on Wednesday has called for a local movement to address road safety issues in Goa, saying road safety is indeed a significant issue when the state is figuring in the top 10 states in the country having high accident rate.
Tewari has also batted for Right to Trauma Care law on the same lines such as Right to Education etc, insisting that every road victim should receive the best of trauma care in the country.
He was delivering a lecture at Gomant Vidya Niketan’s Vicharvedh lecture series on Wednesday, where he shed light on the circumstances that led to the Supreme Court bringing the Good Samaritan Law in the country.
Briefly touching on the road safety and accidents in Goa, Tewari said that road safety should become a big movement in Goa. “There needs to be a local movement to address the issue. SaveLIFE Foundation is ready to assist and provide help to Goa to study the road safety issues and offer solutions”, he said.
He added: “We have not conducted a detailed study on Goa. But, we have the national statistics which shows the accident rate. The number of deaths in Goa may be comparatively low, but Goa is figuring in the top 10 states in the country. We are not just talking about traffic management, but enforcement as well. The enforcement must target on the factors that is causing deaths. Whether it’s night or day, the enforcement must be continued nonstop”.
Underscoring the need for significant improvement in road engineering, Tewari said Goa should top the new funding scheme to address the road safety issues facing the state.
Strongly batting for Right to Trauma Care law on the lines of similar laws such as Right to Education, Tewari said it is not just ambulances that can save the lives of road accident victims, but the system that is required to be put in place, including hospitals, trained doctors, para-medics etc. “A dilapidated ambulance not equipped with life saving equipment will not help the road accident victim. It may even result in murder of the victim”, he added.
