Road Rules by Zvi A. Sesling
from Dystopia: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
It was the year they did away with road rules.
There were no traffic lights red or green. Speed limits were junked. All road signs including stop, yield, caution, slow, children, animal crossing, school and hospital zones were removed.
Cars no longer had horns or even lights front and rear. Driving at night was pure luck if you managed to stay on the road or navigate a curve. If you hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk it was the walker’s stupidity. When entering first grade children were taught how to cross. About half made it to second grade. Intersections became piles of rubble and salvage crews made money scooping up remains and selling them to the metal work industry. In addition, people in the smashed cars were rated one to five by EMTs. The 1 to 3 were delivered to end of life centers, but first their organs were removed and sold to the rich. Those numbered 4 or 5 were sent to a hospital. Eventually cars stopped being made and those still functioning had large metal scoops on the front so the driver could run down and catch victims then sell the bodies to the end of life centers.
This story appears as part of Dystopia, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series.
Bio
Zvi A. Sesling, Brookline, MA Poet Laureate (2017-2020), has published numerous poems and flash fiction. He edits 10 By 10 Flash Fiction Stories. His flash fiction books are 40 Stories (with Paul Beckman), Secret Behind the Gate and Wheels. Sesling lives in Brookline, MA with his wife Susan J. Dechter.
PUNK NOIR, the online literary and arts magazine that looks at the world at its most askew, casting a bloodshot eye over the written word, film, music, television and more.
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I thought pedestrians were fair game now