The Brockton mother was driving a gray Hyundai Santa Fe, when another motorist began beeping the horn, angry that she was driving slowly and then braking repeatedly on a residential road in the city, according to accounts given by the prosecutor and a defense lawyer in the case.
Jennifer Landry soon got out of the SUV to confront the angry driver of the silver Buick Encore behind her on Grafton Street, near the intersection with Belmont Street, on June 28, according to witnesses who spoke with police.
Following a tussle, according to police, Landry was stabbed by the driver of the Encore, 32-year-old Jacqueline Mendes of Fall River, who retrieved a weapon from her car. Landry, a mother to a teenage son, died the next day at the age of 41 at Boston Medical Center. Mendes, who was arrested and later charged with murder, pleaded not guilty and is now sitting behind bars, awaiting a trial.
The murder was just the latest incident of “road rage” reported this year in Massachusetts, following a series of other notable instances throughout the state of violence between motorists. In late January, a bizarre encounter was caught on video, in the aftermath of a minor crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Weston, when one of two disputing drivers ended up on the hood of the other’s moving vehicle, holding on, only to be taken for a dangerous three-mile ride reaching 70 miles per hour.
In March, two women punched it out on Route 128 in Danvers. In April, one man ended up in the hospital as a result of a road-rage-fueled fight in the breakdown lane of Interstate 93 in Andover, according to state police, and later in the month an Avon man was accused of pulling out a gun on another man during a road rage incident on Interstate 93 in Dorchester.
According to a study conducted in 2016 by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, using data collected from a national survey of 2,705 licensed drivers, the majority of motorists in the U.S. admitted to behavior that can be considered aggressive driving, sometimes veering into criminal road rage offenses. While 80 percent of the more-than-200-million drivers in the U.S. confess to expressing anger toward other drivers on the road, some take it a dangerous step further.
The AAA Foundation study states that 51 percent of drivers fessed up to purposefully tailgating cars they feel are driving too slow; 24 percent admitted to braking or speeding up to block another driver from switching lanes; 12 percent said they cut off other drivers; 4 percent said they have exited their vehicle to confront other drivers; and, at the extreme, 3 percent confessed that they intentionally bumped or rammed another vehicle with their car.
Steven Reidbord, a psychiatrist based in San Francisco, who wrote an essay called “Road Rage is All In Your Head,” published last year in Psychology Today, said that part of the problem is misguided personal offense taking.
“A lot of what happens on the road feels personal, when it’s really not,” said Reidbord, who has taught in the psychiatry department at California Pacific Medical Center since 1996. “If someone cuts you off, or jumps out ahead of you at a stop sign, it’s as though they are disrespecting you personally. Of course, much of the time, the other driver is not thinking about you.”
Reidbord said participants in road rage become violent partly because they take inconveniences, annoyances and perceived danger on the road personally, and dehumanize the other driver, whom they do not see face-to-face until it’s too late.
“Basically, what happens is people don’t see other drivers as people, or don’t see them because they are dehumanized behind their cars,” Reidbord said. “By the time they are getting out of the cars and fighting, or attacking each other, they haven’t given themselves enough time to realize that this is another human being. It’s just the enemy at that point.”
It’s OK to get angry or feel slighted by the behavior of another motorist, but people need to learn to control their reactions and realize that disagreements on the road don’t always have to be treated as a matter of honor or personal offense taking, Reidbord said.
“If we are cut off in traffic, we feel like the other driver personally thinks little of us,” Reidbord said. “Who started it is always a matter of dispute. ... My perspective as a psychiatrist is that people should actually own their feelings. ... I accept that people feel frustrated or angry when someone is impeding their progress, or we feel endangered. But there’s a big difference in how you feel and act. Our self control means we don’t control our feelings, we control our behavior. My advice is realize it’s not personal. If someone is enraged, it’s just better to back away or back off.”
Mary Maguire, a spokesperson for AAA Northeast, said there are many factors that contribute to road rage, including the frustration felt by drivers caused by others who are occupied by their cellphones while on the road. Maguire recommended that people should avoid annoying behavior, such as honking excessively, weaving in and out of traffic lanes and tailgating. Drivers can reduce their own sense of tension by giving themselves plenty of time to reach their destination, she said, and being courteous to others on the road can help make driving more enjoyable for everyone.
“Just as you would treat them with good manners at a dinner party, saying please and thank you, and offering to help, you need to exhibit that same behavior on the road,” Maguire said. “That means trying to remain calm at all times, cutting other drivers slack, realizing other people may be in a rush or extremely stressed and have children in back seat screaming. Just try to relax, calm down and realize everyone is in the same boat.”
When someone encounters an overly aggressive driver, creating serious danger on the road, motorists should report the incident to police by calling 911. Drivers should never be vigilantes, taking matters into their own hands, she said. Instead, Maguire encouraged drivers to avoid confrontation with aggressive drivers altogether.
“If there is someone who is behaving aggressively toward you, we advise people not to make eye contact, not to react, not to engage at all,” Maguire said. “Never get out of your car, which certainly leaves you vulnerable to all types of unsafe situations and behavior. We teach people also not to drive aggressively themselves. Don’t offend. Don’t tailgate. Don’t weave in and out of traffic. Don’t cut off other drivers. Don’t honk your horn for an excessive period of time. All those types of things tend to antagonize other drivers.”
Maguire said she is unaware of any legislation that attempts to specifically crack down on overly aggressive driving and road rage. But there is a distracted driving bill working its way through the state legislature, which would implement fines of up to $500 for drivers using their cellphones, unless it’s using hands-free technology.
“People behave toward each other on the road in a way that they would never behave on a sidewalk or at a dinner party or another social situation,” Maguire said. “I think the car sometimes acts as a shield for our bad behavior. ... Driving should not be a combat situation. It should be an enjoyable experience.”