A few weeks ago we ran a story on the inefficiency of the emergency services in answering phone calls to deal with the injury to a young boy who stepped off a bus and was hit by car near our offices.

Being the first one to slate all the emergency services for their gross inefficiency, I feel it is only fair to praise them for the way they dealt with yet another emergency, which has a motorcyclist battle for his life after another accident.

I do know that these articles are often frowned upon by the authorities, simply because nothing is held back, but this time, I can only shower praise on them.

On Thursday a man, for reasons unknown, slammed into three cars and flew off his motorcycle. His head smashed straight into the back of a car and he was seriously injured. His condition was still critical yesterday when this article was penned. Hopefully, he will pull through the 48-hour critical period and survive to be with his family.

Last time round, and trust me it is not nice to report two serious accidents you have seen with your own eyes, the emergency service took at least six minutes to answer my frantic calls for help. This time it took less than a minute. I dialled the emergency services and they answered straight away, asking me what the situation was and giving me instructions what to do.

Once I told them what had happened, their explicit instructions were to make sure the man was breathing and not to move him if he seemed to be “comfortable”, if you get what I mean.

I screamed out of the balcony to the people involved that the ambulance was on its way and not to move him if he was breathing.

To my dismay, they moved him into the recovery position even though he was breathing fine, which if he had a neck or spinal injury could have been catastrophic (even though I do not pretend to be a physician).

Luckily, a doctor was passing by, took charge of the situation and called for advice on how to deal with the specifics, telling the man, who had begun to stir at that point, to lie still as paramedics were on their way. But, I witnessed Maltese chaos at its best after that, well meant though it was.

A woman pointed out that the man must be burning on the tarmac as it was scorchingly hot and everyone (about 30 people) decided that he needed to lie on a towel. Well, you can imagine. About 10 people ran off to get towels while the rest hovered over him. Without trying to sound like a hero, there were advertising placards tied to the traffic lights so I simply ripped them off and gave them to the doctor to slide them under him, which he did. The towels were redundant, but the calls of “Ouuuw, wassalt” and “Ara Hojj” started to ring out as the towels arrived. A typical a farcical “look at me” scenario unfolded.

Anyhow, I told all present in no uncertain terms, from a safe distance, that it would be better to not crowd round the victim. All of them, including the old women who had gathered, said: “Yes true, listen to him.” But what did they do? Crowd further of course.

In due course, a hefty police detachment arrived along with ambulance. One set to marshal traffic, others to take sketches and others escorting the ambulance. A round of applause, they were fantastic... it was like an intricate ballet that was timed to perfection. The first thing the senior copper said was: “Get rid of all the extra experts,” (sic) and he was absolutely correct.

At that point, I identified myself as being the person who reported the incident and asked whether anything more was needed from me. I was told that no, I could retire, and surprise, surprise, that’s what I did.

I hope the victim survives to live a fruitful life.

But for goodness sake, too many cooks spoil the broth. When will people ever learn? Let the experts do their job. And stop bloody well gawping and slowing traffic to a halt whenever anyone is hurt in an accident. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but moving someone in an instance such as that could leave them crippled. Mind your own business if you don’t know what you’re doing.