Had it not been for video cameras mounted atop the windshield, bus driver Yin Hongbin would have been just another of the many wronged good Samaritans.

The ordinary driver of a coach in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, recently made headlines for being wrongly accused of having hit an old woman, whom he had actually stopped to help.

Yin was driving his bus as usual on the highway linking downtown Nantong and its suburbs on August 27, when he spotted an old woman lying beneath a tricycle-cart flipped on its top. He instinctively stopped the bus, got off and with the help of a conductor helped the woman get back on her feet, for which Yin was profusely thanked by the senior. Since he had a bus-load of passengers to ferry, Yin asked a passing villager to take the woman home and then drove off.

In an abrupt twist of the saga three hours later, Yin found himself at a police station being questioned about what was described as a hit-and-run accident - by the old woman he had helped.

After police heard eyewitnesses' accounts and watched the footage shot by cameras installed on the bus's windshield, Yin was cleared of wrongdoing. The woman, perhaps realizing her failed attempt at blackmail might spell trouble, sent her wronged savior a red banner bearing words of gratitude.

Yin should consider himself lucky, for without the cameras he would have no solid evidence to back up his claim of innocence - just like the many other wronged good Samaritans who ended up regretting their good-hearted decisions.

Hence, I find a commentary published in Wenhui Daily on August 30 to be intriguing. After the piece hailed Yin's good deeds, it lamented toward the conclusion that "cameras may have saved Yin (from malicious intents of the person helped), but they cannot save social morality."

Hasn't the fact that the camera prevented the possible descent of a man with a heart of gold into a world of cynicism and apathy said enough about the importance of the gadget in such cases?

Rare breed

Though many people fret that the widespread installation of surveillance cameras might turn society into a police state, credit should at least be given to the cameras for occasionally saving a few good men, now an increasingly rare breed as a result of smear campaigns and extortion scams targeting them.

Driver Xu Yunhe came across the same situation as did Yin Hongbin when he allegedly saw an old woman falling while climbing over a median guardrail on a busy street in Tianjin in 2009. According to the 29-year-old, he stopped his car, called an ambulance and was falsely blamed for causing her to fall. But that's where the similarities between the two cases ended.

In Xu's case, he had no street or windshield-mounted cameras to prove his innocence. Thus, he was taken to court by the sexagenarian's children, who held him responsible for knocking their mother off the guardrail.

In a recently announced verdict that riled the nation and won sympathy for the defendant, Xu was found guilty and ordered to pay the plaintiff 108,606 yuan (US$15,925) in compensation.

The verdict was hugely controversial for neither the senior nor the prosecutors could prove that Xu's car had any contact with the victim surnamed Wang. Still, the court deviated from the judicial principle of "presumption of innocence" and ruled against Xu. He appealed the conviction and the second trial began on August 23.

Cheering crowds

Public opinion has sided firmly with Xu, as he walked out of the courtroom to a hero's welcome by cheering crowds gathered outside. Contrast his treatment with the public humiliation of the old woman and her children once they left the court. Their taxi was besieged by heckling crowds, who denounced Wang for her dishonesty and greed while she diffidently avoided their gaze. Even the cabbie refused to take the family.

With their spontaneous support for Xu and merciless pillorying of Wang, the crowds have sent a message loud and clear: Let morality prevail and those who undermine it be judged, whether by court of law or public opinion.

Xu's trial struck a chord not only because the he sounded morally consistent, but also because it is emblematic of public frustrations that current laws and institutions incriminate more than reward good Samaritans.

What interests me in this case and in many others which often went unnoticed, is not whether justice will eventually triumph. I believe it will, but as the proverb goes, justice delayed is justice denied. Why is it that morality cannot be defended before it is undermined by lies and hypocrisy?

Opinions are divided. Some say the old women acted as they did because they couldn't afford medical treatment for injuries and had to randomly pick someone to foot the bill. Then a hapless person went to their aid.

True, these moral crises are partly explained by the loss of cradle-to-grave insurance for all Chinese as the country adopted a market-oriented health care system. But that's no excuse to frame someone who helps when one is in need.

Others say it's because our laws are immature in that no protection and immunity are provided to good Samaritans against possible legal action by those they attempt to help.

Alas, our lawmakers haven't so far enacted, or considered enacting, a good Samaritan "shield" slaw. It appears that they are more efficient in drafting amendments to the tax code that increase the tax burden, for example by proposing an absurd levy on mooncakes, a pastry eaten on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Whenever Western media say China is a country of many laws, but little justice, we protest. Yet the injustice good Samaritans have suffered suggests we do need more laws, but laws that mean business. The passage of good Samaritan laws would be a good start to resuscitate the nearly moribund belief that virtue begets virtue. And such laws must not just be about carrots, but sticks for those who repay virtue with vice.

In fits of nostalgia people of the older generation tend to reminisce about the bygone era when Lei Feng, the propaganda soldier hero who selflessly helped others, was a role model. Some even say nowadays that thieves openly flaunt their spoils while Lei Feng's followers have to tread with caution.

In fact, we don't need to look back for solace, but ought to look ahead and see what can be done for modern-day Lei Fengs to flourish.