She probably thinks opinion is against her.
You could almost hear Transport Minister Liv Signe Navarsete humming the old pop song "You're so vain" in the background, when news broke this week that she had halted a project that would have allowed motorists in Norway to purchase personalized license plates. The project could have been a new source of funding for state transport projects, and simply fun for those buying the plates and others who spot them.
Navarsete didn't like the idea, and still maintains that she thinks personalized plates "are a bit vain, and un-Norwegian." But she admitted to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, after earlier being unavailable for comment, that "I'm wearing this jewelry, and that can also be vain."
She claimed she didn't, "in principle," oppose a project that would allow motorists to buy special plates, and even thinks such plates can be a "good idea" if they'll raise money for traffic safety. The state highway department already had planned to propose earmarking revenues from personalized plate sales to safety programs.
Her new comments come after Navarsete was summoned by the opposition parties in parliament to explain why she earlier did not want drivers in Norway to be able to buy special plates. She now claims she never went so far as to send a letter to transport authorities ordering them to stop the program.
"We'll now clarify for the highway department anything that's not clear," she said.
Plates may not be popular after all
It remains to be seen whether personalized plates will catch on in a country where flaunting wealth is often frowned upon. Rally car racer Petter Solberg told Dagens Næringsliv that while cars have a lot to do with their owners' personalities, and special plates can be prestigious, he didn't want one himself. If he did, though, he'd choose "IM FAST."
Affluent real estate broker Petter Andreas Poppe claimed he wasn't "snobbish" enough to buy such a license plate.
Investor Ola Mæle, who's been in the news lately after being harshly criticized by a top Labour Party official for being part of a new "vulgar overclass" in Norway, rejected the idea of getting a personalized plate. "It's stupid," he said. "If you get caught driving too fast, everyone will know who you are."
