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Newsstand: December 30, 2014
Carlton Cinema will screen The Interview starting this Friday, just two weeks after the film was pulled from wide theatrical release due to threats of violent attacks. 2014 will officially go down in history as the year that Seth Rogen and James Franco beat terrorism. In the news: LED traffic signs politely urge drivers to take care, charges are laid against a TTC bus driver who ran into a streetcar, and a provincial court finds that wind turbines are not unconstitutional.
Nearly every Torontonian has encountered one of the public safety messages that appear on programmable LED traffic signs along the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner Expressway, and Lake Shore Boulevard. Recently, though, drivers have noticed the especially gentle tone to these reminders that urge travellers to take care during off-peak traffic hours. “Someone loves you, drive safe”; “Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer”; and “Be cautious, life is precious” are just a few of the new messages appearing on the signage. According to Rajnath Bissessar of the City’s transportation services department, there is a schedule of five public safety messages that get rotated through each month; however, Amber Alerts, incident notifications, travel-time alerts, and traffic congestion warnings all take precedent over the kinder, fortune cookie-like PSAs.
Careless driving charges have been laid against a Toronto Transit Commission bus driver after his bus collided with a streetcar this past weekend. The crash occurred on Saturday morning near Main Street and Danforth Avenue, derailing the streetcar and sending four people to hospital with injuries. The name of the bus driver has yet to be released by police. Reps for the TTC say that an accelerated review of safety practices and operator training is still underway.
On Monday, a provincial court officially dismissed appeals from four families who sought to have the K2 Wind project declared unconstitutional. The families, who are concerned about potential health side effects of living close to wind turbines, were attempting to block the construction of 247 wind turbines across rural Ontario locations in Goderich, Kincardine, and Seaforth. The decision to uphold the the provincial approval for the wind turbine projects found that the Environmental Review Tribunal had previously decided there was no conclusive proof that the turbines pose a health hazard to those living nearby. Previously, Health Canada released a study that revealed health problems including dizziness, migraines, and tinnitus were not linked to wind turbine noise.