Step in, bystanders

On April 5, 2007, while heading back home from work, Piyush Tewari got a distress call from his father; his cousin Shivam had met with a serious road accident. In about 15 minutes, he received another call informing him of Shivam’s demise.

Said Tewari, “I still remember that moment distinctly. After hearing that, I could not drive. I could not move. It was a huge shock.”

The incident pushed Tewari to research road safety. “In India, half of all road accident victims died despite having treatable injuries, like in the case of my cousin. Mostly it is (because of) inaction on the part of bystanders,” said Tewari, “Hence, after researching, thinking and deliberating for 10 months, I set up the SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) in February 2008.”

The organisation focuses on bystander care—the immediate care that the police and public can provide road accident victims with to improve their chances of survival.

A World Bank report, in collaboration with SLF, which was released in February 2021, said 75 per cent of low-income households in India reported decline in income resulting from a road accident. According to the report, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra account for 35 per cent of road crash-related fatalities in India.

Tewari strongly feels there has to be better filtration of who gets to drive and who does not. “A vehicle in the hands of a bad driver is a weapon,” he said. His foundation has been training police personnel—the first responders at most accident spots—in basic trauma and life-support skills. Over the last 13 years, SLF has backed the need for stronger road safety and emergency care laws, and an accident prevention training programme for high-risk commercial drivers. The foundation, headquartered in New Delhi, has operations in over 10 states and Union territories.