Driven To Death
When The Joy Ride Is Over
And The Rage For Life Begins

By LIZ GOFF & DENISE DeJESUS

On July 4, 23-year-old Vishwanath Jadunath died looking into his wife’s eyes after an escalating argument over how fast he was driving resulted in two fatal stab wounds to the heart from a 19-year-old stranger.

Jadunath’s eldest surviving daughter Manasha, 2, with a family member. Tribune Photos By Denise DeJesus

A construction worker and computer science student, Vish, as friends and family called him, was "very sweet and generous, always giving and had a smile on his face. He smiled at everyone, no matter who," according to his sister Marilyn Gounden.

"This was over nonsense," his cousin Paul Charran said as the Queens Village family prepared for the funeral services last week. Jadunath and his wife had pulled into a parking space in the Franhill Plaza when a 19-year-old suspect accused him of driving too close to his daughter and became enraged. Then he pulled a knife and stabbed Jadunarth.

Charran told the Tribune, "he’s a little kid, 19, with a kid of his own. In the lineup he had tears in his eyes, so they knew exactly it was him."

But now, "My kids don’t even know what’s going on with their father," Lachman said, "When they grow up, what do I tell them?"

Admit it. When you first clutched the keys to your first car, you breathed a sigh of relief. Along with the promise
of freedom and convenience that came with your new set of wheels, came a sense of security. No more walks after dark from the subway or bus. No more worries about safety on public transportation.

Just step into your car, lock the door
and turn the key – safe and easy, right?

Welcome to 21st century Queens,
where aggression has taken on a new form and now pits driver against driver and neighbor against neighbor.

What is aggressive driving? Law enforcement officials define it as operating a motor vehicle without regard for the safety of other motorists.

In short, it’s the guy who rides your bumper, flashes his bright lights when you refuse to speed, the driver who forces his way in and out of congested traffic – Mr. Obnoxious. The trouble is, officials said, this guy causes accidents but he is rarely involved in them.

Another, more deadly driver is the individual who expresses "Road Rage," law enforcement officials said.

The Road Rage driver doesn’t care about anyone but himself, officials said. Road Rage is defined as an action on the part of a motorist which involves a deliberate attempt to injure – or kill another driver.

Motorists prone to act-out their rage on our streets and highways often begin by riding your bumper, "sitting" on his horn, flashing his headlights – just the same as an aggressive driver.

Marilyn Goundin with Jadunath’s youngest daughter Melissa, 1.

But the Road Rage driver doesn’t give up when you change lanes to get away from him. He often changes lanes with you, tailgating and intimidating other drivers. In a flash, this motorist snaps and pulls a weapon – often a gun – firing at motorists he believes have offended him, or those who refused to give-in to his signaled demands.

Queens first awoke to Road Rage on the morning of Dec. 25, 1992. On the night before, a young family from Long Island – Mom, Dad and their infant daughter met up with a crazed driver on the Grand Central Parkway. The young family was returning from a Christmas Eve celebration at Grandma’s when the father noticed a man in a tan car weaving in and out of traffic.

The motorist was driving on the father’s bumper, flashing his lights and screaming obscenities. The father waited, then changed lanes, hoping the motorist would just "give up and go away."

He didn’t.

The father’s silence only made the driver more angry. He suddenly pulled alongside the family’s car and pumped several shots through a side window.

Angela Moscadera, 24, was shot in the head and killed. The baby just missed taking a bullet. In fact, one round went through the car seat, past the baby and out a rear window. The father was not injured.

According to a 1998 study by the Foundation for Traffic Safety, violent aggressive driving incidents rose nationwide by more than 50 percent between 1992 and 1998. Two-hundred and eighteen people were killed and 12,610 were injured on the nation’s highways during that time period as a result of violent aggressive driving, the study showed.

City officials sent a strong warning in January 2000 to motorists who drive like rodeo clowns: be prepared to get lassoed.

Police citywide began an aggressive crackdown on aggressive drivers in January, warning them to "back off."

The initiative, announced as part of Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s "State of the City" address, was modeled after a city program in which police confiscate cars being driven by drunk drivers. Last year alone, city cops seized 1,564 vehicles from drunk drivers – a move that resulted in a steep drop in the number of alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths and injuries.

Under the initiative, police charge reckless drivers if they are ‘clocked" on radar doing double the speed limit. Drivers are slapped with summonses for "Hazardous Driving" when they are caught speeding, following too closely, or making unsafe lane changes. Police are being instructed to observe reckless drivers and to issue multiple summonses when necessary.

Reckless drivers are arrested and charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to one year in jail. They also lose their cars – as long as they are the registered owner.

In 1999, 141 city motorists were charged with reckless driving. Officials said they expect that number to at least double under the new initiative.

Enforcement, Engineering and Education – these are the keys to reducing deaths and accidents, police officials said.

Precincts in Queens will continue to address conditions at locations targeted as "accident prone," based on computer readouts that detail accident information in each precinct, they said.

Drivers who run red lights and stop signs, and those who ignore speed restrictions on side streets and along avenues throughout the borough will be targeted by police at checkpoints established through examination of accident records, officials said.

A peculiar incident on the Grand Central Parkway on Friday, July 7 sent a signal to motorists about just how vulnerable they are while driving on U.S. highways.

For no apparent reason, a man bolted out of a car traveling eastbound on the highway. He slid along the pavement, and then jumped to his feet and headed straight for a Dodge pickup that had stopped a few cars behind the vehicle he had been riding in.

The man assaulted both the driver and his female passenger – despite the fact that the pair identified themselves as police officers. While trying to pull the woman out of the pickup, the man discovered her off-duty weapon and grabbed for, eyewitnesses said. The woman fought-off the man and, exiting the pickup, she shouted again that she was a cop, displaying her shield.

The man began to punch and pummel the woman again, reaching for the weapon as he tried to force her from the pickup, police said.

Realizing the danger to other motorists if the man got the weapon, the female cop reached for it and fired. The driver, hearing the shots, ran to the passenger side and fired one round at the man.

He was hit once, and died at the scene.

The incident is still being investigated. Police are awaiting toxicology reports to determine if the man was in a drug-related craze, or if something simply went terribly wrong in the moments before he bolted from the car.

Among the theories being probed is a carjacking attempt – a man and woman in a new pickup. The pieces are there, but investigators have yet to make them fit.

One thing is certain. The two people in the truck could have been any couple, suddenly attacked for no apparent reason while driving on a Queens highway.

While there is a definition of aggressive driving and road rage, there is no specific violation in the New York State or City penal code or under vehicle or traffic laws.

The New York State Legislature is expected to consider a bill some time during 2000 that would criminalize "defined" aggressive driving conduct such as tailgating, unsafe lane changes, etc. The law would stipulate that a motorist engaged in "such conduct" with the intent to annoy, harass, or cause injury to another driver. The offenses, which are not categorized as violations (reckless driving, etc.) would become misdemeanors under the new law, punishable by up to one year in jail.

Law enforcement officials said that aggressive driving is a behavioral crime – something that will only be controlled through enforcement and education.

All it takes, they said, is one driver – someone who is late for an appointment, who has had a "bad day," someone who is emotionally overheated or stressed, to create an incident that could lead to tragedy. A corporate officer with a $2 million account on the line who feels the guy up ahead is making him late. A softball mom late for a pickup.

Anyone is capable of adapting a "Road Warrior" mentality behind the wheel, the officials said.