Coming Attractions

Three weeks until our great reprieve, election day. Of course if you listen to either major candidate it may not be a reprieve at all if they aren’t elected, but rather a nudge off the precipice into the eternal abyss of federal dysfunction, horrific national security concerns and faltering economy… Oh wait, we’re there already. But at least after the pundits wind down about what did or didn’t work with the campaigns we can get on with our lives without the constant drone of fear-mongering (both parties) abrading our ears. I carry enough innate anxiety on my own, I don’t need someone else pouring fuel on my Xanax fire.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, the good thing is we are a resilient people, and at least for a while we should be looking at fairly calm waters. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anyone coming out of this election happy. Somehow, with uncanny accuracy, we picked two people with way too much baggage for even the most resolute partisans to walk away truly content. In the back of the average person’s mind are a bunch of “what if’s”, but right now we only hear those questions channeled toward the opposition, and so perhaps mercifully we haven’t yet given our questions voice in our conscious mind.

But back to the good news! The world won’t end on January 20^th, whoever takes the oath, unless it was ending anyway. So I find myself pondering, what will the new administration bring? How will it impact life? Just how did the Deep Thought computer come up with 42? But narrowing that topically, how will this impact the fleet profession, the automotive world we work in. So let’s stare into the waters and see if we can decipher our future!

Thought #1. We are in deep, really deep on some technology, so there is no turning back:

Autonomous cars are becoming feasible, electric cars are improving, ride-sharing is evolving and mass-transit solutions are diversifying. Regardless the environmental push asserted (or not) over the next term or two, way too many people have skin in the game to just let this stuff die now. I honestly don’t know how many American folks take a hard-line environmental stance these days, but I do know there is more environmental awareness than I’ve ever seen in all my years until now. Even if those interests don’t steer legislation, financial interests will. With that much money invested in these technologies, don’t fight it… Roll with it. That train keep a comin’.

Thought #2. Highway safety mandates will continue to blossom:

Domestic highways run consistently faster, with cars that do so with more ease, than ever in automotive history. But while the cars are absolutely the safest we’ve ever made them, we continue to have stunning fatalities and crippling accidents. Growing up driving in the mid-late 1970’s I had a number of cars that would cap 3 digits, but all required 2-hands on the wheel and at least some concentration once the speedometer needle hovered up there, and none ever did it on crowded highway either. But sanity and fear may not exist anymore. Now I see folks doing 90+ MPH fly-by’s staring at their smartphone.

Thought #3. We will again see fuel-price volatility:

How am I so certain? Again, the mighty dollar. The OPEC folks won’t keep the throttle wide-open on their crude production forever, but since they have this long, producers here have once again curtailed production. When the mid-east curtails, our own producers can’t respond quickly to void, and so the prices will go up (perhaps violently). This dynamic could take some time, or be more immediate if exacerbated by international response to our own new administration, but I am pretty convinced we will see more up and down as long as petroleum is our principal drink of choice.

I have many (many) more observations, but then you do too. I was just looking to prime the pump.

© 2016 D.W. Williams