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If you witness an accident on the road, you may or may not help the victim, but if you make a video of the episode and cause a traffic situation, be prepared for a penalty, the Noida police announced Thursday.
In an advisory, the Noida traffic police re-iterated a March 2016 guideline that was issued by the Centre and approved by the Supreme Court for the protection of Good Samaritans or first responders at the hands of the police or any other authority.
The rule will be implemented starting June 10, senior officials said.
"It is the collective responsibility of all of us to help provide immediate medical attendance to victims of road accidents, as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court. "However, nowadays it is seen that instead of helping victims, some people stop their vehicles on the road and start video-recording the incident or taking selfies at the spot," it said.
"On one side, they are violating the apex court's guidelines on helping victims, while on the other, this tendency reveals the inhuman face of the society. These people also contribute to traffic situations deliberately, causing further trouble," the advisory said.
Superintendent of Police, Traffic, Anil Kumar Jha said in such cases, the traffic police of Gautam Budh Nagar reaches the spot and provides first aid to the victims while also clearing traffic on the road.
"These teams of the traffic police have been instructed to take action under the Motor Vehicle Act Section 122/177 (obstruction to traffic movement) against such people. The people who take selfies and make videos while watching victims of accidents will also be identified using cameras that have been installed to further pursue action against them under the MV Act," he said.
The traffic police requests the people to follow traffic rules and help those injured in road accidents, Jha said in the advisory.
The officer told PTI that it has become an insensitive trend, not only in Noida or India, but across the world. "People capture these videos and pictures, put them on YouTube and get paid by clickbait model. This is a worrying trend," he remarked.
"Every other day, we face situations of traffic jams up to 200-300 metres at accident spots, making it difficult for even the police or an ambulance to reach the victims," Jha said.
For first-time violators, the fine will be Rs 100, second-time, it will be Rs 300. It will go up further. The recent revision in penalty on road traffic violations by the UP government will allow for much severe penalty against such violators, the SP added.
According to official data, as many as 220 people have lost lives and 393 suffered injuries in 481 road accidents in Gautam Buddh Nagar from January 1 to May 31 this year.
A total of 186 deaths and 359 injuries were reported in 458 accidents during the same period last year, it said.
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