- Explorer Moments
Putting the Brakes on India's Huge Traffic Fatalities
Stung by a cousin's death, Piyush Tewari's leading reforms to improve emergency medical aid to accident victims.
For many—whether motorist, bystander, or police officer—helping a traffic accident victim seems almost instinctual.
But that hasn’t traditionally been the underlying sentiment in India, one of the world's worst countries for traffic deaths, with nearly 150,000 fatalities and more than 500,000 injuries in 2015. Besides the lack of emergency medical personnel and basic first-aid training among first responders and ordinary citizens, there persists among Indians a widespread cultural reluctance to lend a hand.
Piyush Tewari, a former New Delhi investment banker, has almost single-handily changed sentiment since establishing the SaveLife Foundation to help accident victims and promote road safety following the 2007 death of his 17-year-old cousin Shivam Bajpai in Kanpur.
“After being hit by a car, he was able to
