401 Crashes

 

You can expect lengthy delays on the 401 westbound in the Switzerville Road area today.  A tractor trailer hit the concrete median and will have to be unloaded before debris can be removed from the highway.  One lane is open but traffic on the westbound 401 is backed up for several kilometres.

 

Transport Truck Fire

 

The 401 westbound was closed at Deseronto Road all day yesterday because of a fiery crash that claimed the life of a driver.  The OPP says two transport trucks collided on the 401 westbound near the Marysville Road exit and one of the drivers died in the crash and fire.  The other driver wasn’t injured.

The highway had to be repaved last night and it didn’t re-open until just after midnight.

 

Kingston Man – Cyclists Hit

 

A man from Kingston has been charged after a car hit a group of cyclists on Sunday near Amherstview.  The crash sent several of the cyclists to hospital and one remains in Kingston General with critical injuries.

The group of cyclists were involved in the 7 Days in May Tour for Pancreatic Cancer and had stopped on Highway 33 near Amherstview when they were hit by a vehicle.

51 year old Robert Saunders of Kingston has been charged with two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.  The OPP says no additional charges have been laid at this time.

 

Fatal Crash – Victims Identified

 

A man from Waterloo and a woman from Burnaby, B.C. were the victims in the fatal crash between an SUV and tractor trailer in Kingston last Friday.

33 year old Chen Yuan of Waterloo and 27 year old Meiyu Li of Burnaby died when their SUV hit a guardrail and spun out into the path of the transport.

The 401 was closed for nine hours while police investigated the crash.

 

Election Sign Tampering

 

Some election signs along Highway 15 in Kingston have been vandalized.

Someone cut the picture out of one of Green Party candidate Robert Kiley’s signs and two of PC Party Candidate Gary Bennett’s signs.

The campaign offices of all the local candidates say vandalism has been a major problem during this election campaign.

Kingston Police say if someone is caught vandalizing an election sign they could be charged with mischief.

 

School Board – Trustee Sanctioned

 

A trustee with the Limestone District School Board has been banned from attending meetings for the rest of his term.  Trustee Tom Mahoney has been sanctioned by the school board for what it calls inappropriate interactions with outside individuals to unseat certain fellow board members, unwarranted criticism of fellow board members and demonstrating unethical and disrespectful conduct.

Mahoney wasn’t at the special meeting of the school board – but says he believes the sanctions are due to him speaking openly about wanting to have new people elected to the board.

The new trustees will be chosen by voters in the municipal election this fall and Mahoney says he will seek re-election.  He’s the trustee for the Loyalist-Cataraqui, Collins-Bayridge and Lakeside districts.

 

Power Outages

 

Utilities Kingston says a power failure that hit approximately 2,500 customers yesterday was caused by an animal at its substation in the Victoria Park area.  Power was restored in just under two hours.

On Tuesday…9,000 customers lost power when a boom truck took down a line in Hydro One’s west end distribution area.

The Utility says a two hour power outage on Monday night that affected about 1,400 customers was caused by an equipment failure.

It says repairs to the equipment will require a planned power outage and it will advise people when it plans to shut down the power to fix the problem.

 

Water Use

 

Utilities Kingston is asking people in the central and eastern areas of the city to conserve tap water until 4pm today.

A company has been hired to find a leak in a large water main and the water pumping station will be shut down this morning.

People are being asked to take short showers and hold off on doing laundry, watering plants and gardens, washing cars, and using hoses and sprinklers.