Tesla driver killed in chain-reaction crash that shut down I-285 in Cobb
The driver of a Tesla was killed Friday morning after he lost control of the vehicle on I-285, slammed into a median and was hit after walking onto the interstate.
Two other vehicles were involved in the chain-reaction wreck, but their drivers were not injured, according to Cobb County police. An investigation shut down the northbound lanes for nearly four hours and caused extreme delays through Smyrna and Vinings during the morning commute.
Cobb police were called to the scene shortly after 4:30 a.m., department spokeswoman Officer Shenise Barner said in a news release.
“According to investigators, a black 2021 Tesla Model 3 was traveling east on I-285 approaching the exit to Cobb Parkway when the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing the Tesla to collide with the median retaining barrier,” she said. “The Tesla was then redirected back into the lanes of travel, where it came to rest sideways across the lanes facing south.”
It was not clear what caused the driver, identified by police as 29-year-old Vivek Iyer of Atlanta, to lose control, or if the self-driving feature was turned on. He was out of his vehicle when a Dodge Ram pickup truck hit the side of the Tesla, Barner said. The Ram was then rear-ended by a Toyota Rav4.
“The Toyota was redirected to the north, where it then collided with the driver of the Tesla, who was still in the travel lanes,” Barner said.
Iyer was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police shut down the I-285 inner loop while they investigated, directing northbound traffic off the interstate at the Cobb Parkway exit. The lanes did not reopen until shortly before 8:30 a.m., according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact traffic investigators at 770-499-3987.
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