Tewari began asking how post-crash care might be improved in India, and in 2008, he established the SaveLife Foundation to not only answer that question, but also advance road safety more broadly. In trying to comprehend why Shivam hadn’t been helped, Tewari discovered that a major problem was fear, and it went back a long way. During the 19th century, the British had established a law requiring India’s hospitals to record the identity of anyone who brought in a person for care. “It was used by the British police when someone brought an injured freedom fighter to the hospital, so they could track down others,” said Tewari.

Today, Indians remain reluctant to intervene on a victim’s behalf because they worry about legal harassment. In a national survey commissioned by the SaveLife Foundation, three-quarters of respondents said they would be unlikely to assist a road victim with serious injuries; of those, 88 percent said they feared repeated police questioning and a prolonged obligation to appear in court as a witness; 77 percent added that hospitals unnecessarily detained good Samaritans and refused treatment if money wasn’t paid. A vast majority of respondents agreed that India needed a “supportive legal environment” to enable people to help injured victims on the road.

It finally has one. In March, India’s Supreme Court issued a judgment requiring governments across India to comply with a set of guidelines to protect good Samaritans. Indians who assist others in need will no longer be required to disclose personal information or be subjected to questioning by the police; they cannot be detained at hospitals for any reason, and they are protected from civil or criminal liability. This could prove to be a major step forward.

SaveLife began pushing for a good Samaritan law six years ago. The foundation developed relationships with government officials, compiled data about the problem, documented cases, and produced a comparative study of such laws in other countries, including the United States.

The cumulative toll of road deaths in India is alarming. Between 2006 and 2015, 1.2 million Indians died in road crashes, and six to seven million were injured or disabled, many with head and spinal injuries. Road deaths are the No. 1 cause of death for Indians between the ages of 15 and 49. Perhaps half of the victims are from very poor backgrounds — rickshaw wallahs, cart pullers or daily laborers who walk or bicycle home from work after dark, when crashes most often occur. Their deaths cause families to fall deeper into poverty. “If 50 percent could be saved if they were rushed to hospital, why should that not be done?” Tewari implored.