A 26-year-old Cartersville man is dead after his car veered into the gore area between Interstate 75 and Interstate 575 in Cobb County before dawn Saturday and slammed into the back of a parked flatbed truck. Casey Price was pronounced dead at the scene, while the truck driver walked away unharmed.
According to Atlanta News First, police believe Price left his lane while driving a 2024 Mazda CX-30 northbound and struck a 2022 Freightliner tractor and flatbed that was parked in the gore between I-75 and I-575. Officers were called to the scene at I-75 northbound at I-575 northbound Saturday morning, and the outlet reports the crash investigation remains ongoing. The truck driver, a 60-year-old man from Texas, was not injured.
A separate report from WXIA-TV pinpoints the crash time at around 3:23 a.m. Saturday and identifies the truck driver as Lee Roy Morris of Killeen, Texas. The station's report says Price's gray Mazda struck the right rear of Morris's red flatbed after entering the gore area, the wedge-shaped section of pavement where the two interstates converge.
Why Gore Areas Are Off-Limits
Gore zones exist to manage the flow of merging traffic, not to serve as parking or shoulder space. Under Georgia Code O.C.G.A. § 40-6-50(b), it is illegal for any vehicle to be driven over, across, or within a gore, defined as the area of convergence between two traffic lanes, or any paved shoulder separating divided highway roadways. A related statute, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-203, restricts stopping, standing, or parking on controlled-access highways except to avoid traffic conflicts, during emergencies, or when directed by law enforcement.
Federal trucking rules add another layer of scrutiny to how the flatbed came to rest where it did. Under 49 CFR 392.22, commercial drivers who stop on a highway shoulder or travel lane for non-traffic reasons must immediately turn on hazard flashers and place three reflective warning triangles or flares within 10 minutes. It remains an open question why the tractor-trailer was parked in the gore area and whether those hazard lights and warning triangles were deployed before the Mazda struck it, along with why Price's car left its travel lane in the first place.
Cobb Police Turn to Drone Reconstruction
The Cobb County Police Department's Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, known as the STEP Unit, is directing the investigation and is asking any witnesses to contact investigators at 770-499-3987. Per the Cobb County Police Department, the STEP Unit uses drone technology to capture aerial photographs and build 3D scene reconstructions during major fatal traffic crash investigations, a method aimed at preserving forensic evidence before interstate lanes reopen to traffic.
A Dangerous Stretch of Highway
Saturday's fatality marks at least the second deadly crash in roughly three months near this same stretch of northbound I-75 by the I-575 split. In May, WXIA-TV reported that an SUV struck the rear of a disabled CobbLinc transit bus stopped in a travel lane at the same interchange, killing two occupants. In April, a separate multi-truck wreck shut down northbound I-75 in Cobb County after a Freightliner tractor-trailer drifted out of its lane, sideswiped another semi, and overturned, as Hoodline previously reported, leaving two people dead.
The crash also arrives amid a broader pattern of traffic danger across the county. Cobb County recorded 27,604 motor vehicle crashes in 2024, resulting in 57 fatalities and 449 serious injuries, ranking it among the top three counties in Georgia for traffic accidents. The STEP Unit has been busy in recent weeks, having also investigated a fatal I-20 rollover that killed a 31-year-old Douglasville man just a day earlier and a crash on Barrett Parkway earlier this month in which a pickup crossed the center line and struck a tractor-trailer.
No further details on potential charges or the cause of Price's lane departure have been released. The Cobb County Police Department's STEP Unit investigation remains active, and anyone with information about the crash is urged to come forward.
