I imagine a Twilight Zone episode... Go back in time to before cars were invented and imagine some Mephistopheles offering the bargain: "You'll fly like the wind over hills and mountains, making a journey of days in mere hours!" What the catch? "For each mile traveled a certain number of people chosen at random must be put to death or maimed."

He would go on about how the chances of someone you love being chosen for sacrifice were infinitesimal, and the benefits to all were so great and so obvious...

("Also, it will poison the air and water, and force you to become dependent on fuel sources that destroy life and engender wars.")