Next I crossed the harbor and boarded a tram for a half-hearted shopping excursion to the Western Market (a market on the western side of town; not a market of things Western). As I poured over my tour guide, trying to make sure I wasn't missing any important sights of Hong Kong, the tram came to a stop midway along the line.
Someone got off. There was just one other guy on the upper deck. I finished reading about the Western Market and consulted the map again. We definitely weren't at the end of the line, but we'd been stopped longer than usual. The other guy looked out a window and then got off the tram. I sat.
It was at least a minute before I figured out something was wrong. I looked out a window. People were swarming around the bus and on the sidewalks nearby. I looked down. Someone was under the tram.
Shit. I ran down the stairs, dropped payment in the slot (though the doors were wide open and the bus empty) and leaped free of the tram. A quick peek confirmed that someone had been hit by the tram and now lay just under its front skirt (ahead of the wheels, it appeared). The driver was pacing, talking worriedly on a cell phone. Police and medics gradually arrived on the scene. I couldn't help joining the crowd of gawkers.
I pondered the old atrocity that bystanders are notoriously unhelpful and in-the-way in scenes like this. I read once about a rape that took place in front of a crowded American big city apartment building. Dozens of people had heard the screams and looked on in horror from their windows, but no one called the police. I debated diving in to help. Nope, I don't speak the language and would just be in the way--besides, plenty of help was here. I pondered walking away, but I'd been on the damn thing, and as long as I stayed back out of the action I wasn't in anyone's way.
So I watched as the police helped the driver disconnect the tram's overhead connection to the powerline. I watched as the fire crews showed up and jacked up the tram with a big rubber inflatable pillow. I saw the ambulance roll away. When I finally walked away, I found myself looking both ways and waiting for the light to cross at each intersection.
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