‘It’s a bold strategy, Cotton’

“Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, is one of those movies that strung together one-liners that went on to permeate everyday speech. Clearly, by the headline, I fancy the line by Jason Bateman playing Pepper Brooks.

For those unfamiliar with the movie, or more specifically, the scene: Average Joe’s dodgeball team is short a player, who also happens to be the team captain, for the tournament finals. As Cotton McKnight announces on the ESPN8 “The Ocho” broadcast that the team will have to forfeit, the loveable, none-too-bright Pepper proclaims, “It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for ’em.”

I love to whip that phrase out when I see someone about to do something really stupid. When my kids were younger, if they heard me say it, they knew they clearly were not thinking something through.

And somebody should have said this to the Environmental Protection Agency when it decided that trucking should lead the way in the electrification revolution. It would have been better for its officials to tap the brakes and think the plan through.

Since that clearly did not happen, we’ve curated a collection of how short-sighted and devastating a mandate could be. The analysis starts on Page 14. Senior Editor Mark Schremmer and Associate Editor Tyson Fisher comb through the concerns, ranging from infrastructure to price points on trucks. The issues are many, none of them good.

A bold move much more likely to work out would be to let the free market and technology drive the adoption of electric vehicles. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who have electric and hybrid personal vehicles. The Amazon delivery center in my area runs electric vans. And when the stars align on availability of technology, a sustainable infrastructure and a palatable price point, the technology will be more widely adopted into everyday life.

But forcing giant, megawatt-gulping big trucks onto an electric infrastructure with many shortcomings at an alarming price tag is a bold move that simply is not going to end well for the EPA – or more importantly, truckers and consumers.

Speaking of infrastructure: While the EPA is hard-charging into a poorly thought-out mandate, Congress continues to postpone the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, which would fund a minimal amount of truck parking.

Rather than moving ahead on an investment that would pay immediate dividends in terms of highway safety, lawmakers allow the bill to sit. And in the absence of any bold moves by the public sector, the private sector is moving in – with a price tag. We break down concerns about this in The Parking Zone on Page 44.

When it comes to bold strategy, there is one out there for improving highway safety that mega fleets continue to ignore: Pay drivers more. I’m sure even Pepper Brooks, if he were real, would know that keeping drivers’ wages low benefits only the fleets.

Increasing driver pay makes perfect sense, and there is research to back it up. We take a look at the latest on that front on Page 40.

Perhaps the most glaring example recently of the failure of a bold strategy is the New York City congestion pricing plan. That concept was hatched with only an end in mind and little to no thought on execution. No one faults the Big Apple for wanting to reduce congestion, especially truckers. However, this plan had faults – and a lot of them.

With only weeks to go before congestion pricing was about to begin, the governor scrapped the idea. Or “paused indefinitely,” according to her office. But it’s effectively dead for now. It might have been a good plan on paper, but the reality was problematic. Check it out on Page 33.

Bold strategies are great when they have a rock-solid plan that accounts for reality – and when you act on them. That’s the lesson the EPA, Congress and mega fleets need to learn. LL