define 'emergency'

an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action.
Yesterday, we passed by a motorist that just got tumbled down with his van. Obviously, he drove fast & maybe recklessly due to the impact he managed to uproot the palm tree on the island off the road. Police arrived and we saw this driver lying down the ground,agonizing with pain while office looking on waiting for the Emergency Team to arrive. I saw the victim was in pain but even the officer who were standing there cannot do anything because SOP said, let the Emergency Team handle it. Then, I was thinking, what if the E-team arrives late because too much traffic along the way? Maybe it would take them 15 minutes or so to come but the victim lies in pain w/out first-aid & in critical condition. I don't know but in my country,we define emergency as 'taking immediate action when necessary' on critical condition. We don't have to wait for ambulance to come,whatever transport we can grab on site we use them to facilitate the victim/s to the hospital so that they can get proper aid. Life first, that is our SOP.