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If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

bbc.co.uk

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Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#91

Post by sbuttgereit »

ArenaSource wrote: post #81

Change the law. In Spain not helping someone that is found helpless and in danger, when you can do so without risk to yourself or others, is a criminal offence.

Sure, why fix the problem (being too easily blamed for an accident when you give aid, etc.) when you can just write a law that does nothing to address it? You assuage whatever societal guilt you might have for the problem without requiring the hard work of actually making any substantive change.

Such a law would be virtually impossible to enforce in any reasonable way; yes, you can make the odd example of someone, but are you going to spend massive effort on tracking down every passerby on whatever surveillance video might exist should they fail to give aid? If you were said passerby, wouldn't you just get away from the scene all that much more quickly to avoid the greater likelihood of being caught up in the mess?

While I disagree with your thinking, I do have to say you're clearly qualified for politics as this sort of logic drives a significant part of lawmaking... certainly in the U.S. and I suspect in other places around the world as well... maybe even India.

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#92

Post by hackeratti »

ArenaSource wrote: post #81

Change the law. In Spain not helping someone that is found helpless and in danger, when you can do so without risk to yourself or others, is a criminal offence.

In the western world the law is the answer to most problems, but that's not possible in developing worlds where the judicial system is ineffective, biased and sometimes corrupt. In many situations, the laws hinder the countries from becoming better.

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#93

Post by jargnar »

A very real, slightly non-obvious problem is the size of the Indian population itself. There are so many people here that, competition is a stronger emotion than community. To an extent that sometimes it is considered normal to put someone else at risk for your benefit, while self-empathizing along the lines of "Hey, if I don't do it, someone else will stamp on that person to move ahead in life."

Competition is everywhere.

- Want a seat in a University? Compete with, literally a million others for just one seat.

- Want a train ticket to travel within India? Login to the IRCTC exactly at 8 am, and pray that the next 5 seconds is your lucky time.

- Want to travel via local train? Hang on to the windows outside (Mumbai).

Too many people that -- it is dangerously becoming almost culturally normal to prioritize your life over someone else's. Combine this with the corrupt administration, and poor infrastructure... and it is painful to think about.

We're forgetting humanity at the cost of too many humans to compete with.

That being said, there are definitely people who do help. Helpful people in India are in fact, extremely helpful. I've received help myself. But these days, the probability of that happening is perhaps decreasing.

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#94

Post by Chris2048 »

jlg23 wrote: post #90
Chris2048 wrote: post #80

Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Wang_Yue context: "...the story of a man named Peng Yu in Nanjing who was sued by a woman after helping her. The old woman was successful in seeking damages from the man because the judge claimed that the man wouldn’t have helped her unless he was guilty of injuring her in the first place..." -- https://chinachange.org/2011/10/20/the-good-samaritan-in-chi...

Not really relevant, the problem in China is that one has[1] to pay for a disabled person for all that person's life while a death incurs a one time payment. [1] IIRC the recently changed the relevant laws or are currently debating to change them.

The problem is also that you risk getting blamed merely for helping, This is why it is relevent.

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#95

Post by andai »

nashashmi wrote: post #78
wmt wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how does that even work? If someone drops in an injured person and leaves, will the hospital just let the injured person die on the floor? If bystanders doing nothing raises headlines in India, I'd imagine hospitals doing that would be an even bigger scandal.

Yeah, hospitals and doctors won't admit. A quick story in Pakistan: A brain surgeon had a lot of success doing brain surgeries and received much fame, award, and status worldwide, and even though he started out modestly helping the poor and less fortunate, fame and greed got to him, and he became more demanding in terms of payment. Well, a man brought in a young individual involved in a car accident who had received…

Now if that isn't karma I don't know what is

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#97

Post by paulcole »

jargnar wrote: post #93

A very real, slightly non-obvious problem is the size of the Indian population itself. There are so many people here that, competition is a stronger emotion than community. To an extent that sometimes it is considered normal to put someone else at risk for your benefit, while self-empathizing along the lines of "Hey, if I don't do it, someone else will stamp on that person to move ahead in life." Competition is every…

> culturally normal to prioritize your life over someone else's

I think this is common to the US as well. Of course I think my life is more important to someone else. That's why I drive like an idiot, cut in line, take without asking, talk loudly on my phone in quiet places, smoke/vape wherever I want, etc.

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#98

Post by ccvannorman »

jargnar wrote: post #93

A very real, slightly non-obvious problem is the size of the Indian population itself. There are so many people here that, competition is a stronger emotion than community. To an extent that sometimes it is considered normal to put someone else at risk for your benefit, while self-empathizing along the lines of "Hey, if I don't do it, someone else will stamp on that person to move ahead in life." Competition is every…

Has India reached / is it reaching Peak Child? I know predictions globally are for ~9Bn people, I wonder how much of that will be in India.

Re: If no-one helps you after a car crash in India, this is why

#99

Post by LionessLover »

nicky0 wrote: post #74
sopooneo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if a close personal friend had done so in the past to horrible consequences for themselves? What if time and again, you hear stories of good Samaritans reaping life destroying "thanks". What if you are a parent, and know that helping may risk putting you in jail, and unable to provide for you very poor family?

I'm not familiar with this phenomenon of being jailed for helping a crash victim. Can someone elaborate? (Is this as US litigation culture thing?)

Reading the article and not just the comments occasionally helps :-)
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