I don’t know if you were as surprised as I was to learn that President Bush has signed into law a bill to raise the much-maligned Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars for the first time since 1985. Under the terms of the new law, fuel economy standards for passenger cars will increase by 40 percent by 2020, to a national fleet average of 35 miles per gallon. This is amazing news, folks, and it’s about time those numbers started to reflect the realities of the 21st Century.

Think about it: this standard has stagnated for over 20 years while the price of oil has nearly quintupled. When the current CAFE standards were set, you could still walk into a showroom and buy a brand new American Motors Eagle, Chevy Chevette or Chrysler K-Car. Oldsmobile and Plymouth were still proud nameplates. No one had ever heard the term SUV, and the only people who bought pick-up trucks were using them to haul manure to the back 40. In 1985 you could still buy a new Peugeot on American shores, for goodness sake. It’s laughable to think that we are still operating under the same fuel economy standards as a 1985 Dodge Omni when the price of regular unleaded gasoline now regularly tops $3.00 a gallon.

Okay, so the standards will now be raised. The problem is, 2020 is a long way away—that gives GM 12 more years to sell Hummers. In the meantime, what are you doing to improve your own fleet’s average fuel economy? You can wait for the automakers to start offering you more efficient vehicles, or… here’s an idea: you can start demanding them. Maybe if the market gets out ahead of the government on this one, the new CAFE standards will be obsolete before they even go into effect.

What are you doing with your own fleet: leading, following, or getting out of the way?