Georgia · Bartow County · Fatal

Bartow County Fatal Accidents: 3 Dead in 3 Days on Highway 20 and Joe Frank Harris Parkway

A motorcyclist, a driver and a pedestrian were killed in three separate Bartow County accidents between early Saturday and early Monday. One driver is charged. Here is what Georgia State Patrol has released on each, side by side.

Three deaths in three days on Bartow County roads

Three people were killed in three separate accidents on Bartow County roads between the early hours of Saturday, Aug. 8 and the early hours of Monday, Aug. 10, 2026.

A motorcyclist died at an intersection on Highway 20. A driver died when her car was struck from behind on Joe Frank Harris Parkway near Adairsville. A pedestrian died after being struck while crossing Highway 41 in Cartersville.

The three accidents are not connected to one another. Each was worked by Georgia State Patrol. In only one of the three has anyone been charged.

The individual reports come from WBHF Radio in Cartersville, a My K Country roundup published Tuesday, and the Daily Tribune News. Where those outlets differ on a detail, we say so below rather than pick one.

Highway 20 at Service Road: motorcyclist Connor Smith killed

Connor Smith, 27, of Cartersville was riding a Honda CBR650R west on Highway 20 in the left lane, WBHF Radio reported.

A Dodge Journey traveling south on Service Road attempted to turn left onto Highway 20. According to WBHF, the Journey's driver "entered the motorcycle's path and was struck in the driver's side by the motorcycle."

Smith died at the scene. The Journey's female driver and a child passenger were taken to Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center with minor injuries.

The Daily Tribune News reported that Bartow County Coroner Joel Guyton handled the official identification. WBHF described the case as an ongoing investigation and did not report any charges.

Full report: Highway 20 accident at Service Road — Connor Smith, 27, of Cartersville killed on a motorcycle →

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Joe Frank Harris Parkway near Horseshow Road: DUI charge filed

Just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, a Toyota 4Runner traveling south on Joe Frank Harris Parkway struck the rear of a Honda Accord near Horseshow Road, WBHF Radio reported. Both vehicles left the west shoulder of the roadway after the impact.

The Accord's driver, Ratanza Winters-Gardner, 34, of Adairsville, died at the scene.

The 4Runner's driver, Andrea Leigh Stegall, 30, of Greenville County, South Carolina, suffered minor injuries and was taken to Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center. She was then booked into the Bartow County Jail on charges of homicide by vehicle in the first degree, driving under the influence of drugs and reckless driving. WBHF reported that additional charges remain possible as the investigation continues.

Full report: Joe Frank Harris Parkway accident near Horseshow Road — Ratanza Winters-Gardner, 34, of Adairsville killed, driver charged →

Grassdale Road at Highway 41: pedestrian Brian McLaughlin killed

At 2:12 a.m. Monday, Brian McLaughlin, 57, of Cartersville was walking west outside a crosswalk, attempting to cross Highway 41 at Grassdale Road, according to WBHF Radio.

He entered the left turn lane and was struck by the front of a 2019 Nissan Sentra traveling north. He was taken to Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center, where he died.

WBHF reported that no charges are pending currently. The Sentra's driver has not been identified in any report we reviewed.

Full report: Highway 41 accident at Grassdale Road — pedestrian Brian McLaughlin, 57, of Cartersville killed →

This map shows the Cartersville segment only. The Aug. 9 accident happened on the same highway roughly 13 road miles north, near Horseshow Road outside Adairsville. The Aug. 8 motorcycle accident was on Highway 20, a different road.

The three accidents side by side

Laid out together, the three cases have almost nothing in common except the county, the agency and the hour of the night.

Two of the three happened on the same highway

The Aug. 9 accident and the Aug. 10 accident both happened on the same road under different names.

Joe Frank Harris Parkway is the local name for US 41, carried as State Route 3 — the designation the Daily Tribune News used in its account of the Adairsville-area accident. It is the main surface artery running north–south through Bartow County, parallel to I-75.

The two accidents on it were about 13 road miles and roughly 26 hours apart. There is no reported connection between them, and no agency has described the corridor as a factor in either. We note the shared road because the two incidents are otherwise reported as if they happened in unrelated places.

All three happened in the middle of the night

Every one of the three accidents occurred between roughly 12:30 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. — a window of less than two hours of the clock, spread across three consecutive nights.

That is the only pattern the released facts actually support. It is not evidence that the three are linked, and we are not claiming it is. What it does mean, practically, is that all three were worked in darkness,

What the vehicular homicide charge actually means

Only one of the three accidents has produced a charge. Homicide by vehicle in the first degree is the felony count Georgia uses when a death results from certain serious traffic offenses — the My K Country roundup described it as a felony first-degree vehicular homicide charge.

The offense is set out at O.C.G.A. § 40-6-393. Under the 2020 Georgia Code as published by Justia, a person commits first-degree homicide by vehicle by causing a death, without malice aforethought, through offenses that include DUI and reckless driving. The penalty on conviction is not less than three and not more than 15 years.

The two other counts in this case — DUI-drugs and reckless driving — are the underlying offenses the first-degree count is built on.

None of that has been proven. The case has not been to court, and Stegall is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Why a motorcycle in a two-vehicle accident is its own category

Connor Smith's accident was a two-vehicle collision in which the rider died and both occupants of the car walked away with minor injuries. That asymmetry is the norm, not the exception.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety counts 6,228 motorcyclist deaths in the United States in 2024, and reports that 65% occurred in multiple-vehicle accidents — meaning roughly two out of three motorcyclist deaths involve at least one other vehicle.

IIHS also reports that, per mile traveled in 2023, the number of deaths on motorcycles was nearly 28 times the number in cars.

Georgia carries a meaningful share of that. Of the 1,403 motor vehicle accident deaths IIHS counted in Georgia in 2024, 182 were motorcyclists — 13%.

A note on what we are not saying: neither WBHF nor the Daily Tribune reported a cause finding, a citation or a speed estimate in the Highway 20 accident. Troopers described the vehicle movements. They did not assign fault, and neither do we.

What the pedestrian data says about 2 a.m. on an arterial

Brian McLaughlin was struck at 2:12 a.m. on a major surface highway. Both of those details put his death in the largest categories IIHS tracks.

Nationally, IIHS counted 7,080 pedestrian deaths in 2024. Of those:

• 73% occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
• 62% occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways — the arterial category US 41 falls into
• 84% occurred in urban areas

In Georgia specifically, IIHS counted 286 pedestrian deaths in 2024 — 20% of the state's 1,403 accident deaths.

Add the motorcyclists to the pedestrians and you get 468 of Georgia's 1,403 accident deaths in 2024: about one in three people killed on Georgia roads that year was not inside a vehicle at all. Two of Bartow County's three deaths this week fell in that group.

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How this fits Georgia's road-death numbers

The honest answer is that three days in one county is too short a window to tell you anything about a trend, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

What the state data does show, from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety Georgia Traffic Safety Facts, 2023 Data:

• Georgia recorded 1,615 traffic fatalities in 2023, a 10% decrease from 1,796 in 2022.
• The rate fell to 1.28 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from 1.39.
• Georgia still ranked fourth-highest in the nation by number of traffic fatalities, while ranking 24th by rate — a function of how much driving happens here.
• Police reported 8,171 suspected serious accident injuries in Georgia in 2023, up 12% from 7,308 in 2019.

So the statewide direction over that period was down. That is worth stating plainly, because a three-death week in one county reads like a spike, and a single county over three days simply cannot establish one. Bartow County's own year-over-year totals have not been released for this period.

Which agency investigated, and where the reports live

All three accidents were worked by Georgia State Patrol, not by the Bartow County Sheriff's Office or Cartersville Police. GSP Post 3 responded to the Adairsville-area accident, and the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team — Troop A on the Highway 20 case — assisted on the reconstruction work.

That matters for anyone trying to obtain a report. Because GSP worked these accidents, the reports are filed with the Georgia Department of Public Safety, not with the county. They are typically not available for several business days, and reconstruction cases can take longer than routine ones.

What we don't know yet

This page will be updated as Georgia State Patrol and the named outlets release more. We do not fill gaps with inference.

If you were involved in one of these accidents

Because Georgia State Patrol worked all three, the report goes to the Georgia Department of Public Safety — not to Bartow County. It will not exist for several business days.

That gap matters. Insurers often call within 24 to 48 hours, before any report exists to check their account against. Attention: you are not required to give a recorded statement before you have seen the report.

Frequently asked questions

How many people died on Bartow County roads this week?
Three, in three separate accidents between early Saturday, Aug. 8 and early Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. No source reports any connection between the three accidents.

Who was the motorcyclist killed on Highway 20?
Connor Smith, 27, of Cartersville. He was riding a Honda CBR650R west on Highway 20 in the left lane when a Dodge Journey turning left from Service Road entered his path, according to WBHF Radio. He died at the scene.

Who has been charged in the Bartow County accidents?
One person. Andrea Leigh Stegall, 30, of Greenville County, South Carolina, is charged with homicide by vehicle in the first degree, DUI-drugs and reckless driving in the Aug. 9 accident that killed Ratanza Winters-Gardner. She is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. No charges have been announced in the other two accidents.

Who died in the Joe Frank Harris Parkway accident near Adairsville?
Ratanza Winters-Gardner, 34, of Adairsville. She was driving a Honda Accord that was struck from behind by a Toyota 4Runner just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, near Horseshow Road. She died at the scene.

Who was the pedestrian killed on Highway 41 in Cartersville?
Brian McLaughlin, 57, of Cartersville. Georgia State Patrol says he was walking west outside a crosswalk at Grassdale Road and Highway 41 at 2:12 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, when he entered the left turn lane and was struck by the front of a northbound 2019 Nissan Sentra. He died at Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center.

Was the driver who struck the pedestrian charged?
No. WBHF Radio reported that no charges are pending currently. The driver has not been publicly identified in the reports we reviewed.

Are the three Bartow County accidents related?
No. They are three separate accidents at three separate locations with no reported connection between them. Two of them happened on the same highway — US 41, also called Joe Frank Harris Parkway — but about 13 road miles and roughly 26 hours apart.

Which agency is investigating these accidents?
Georgia State Patrol worked all three. GSP Post 3 responded to the Adairsville-area accident, and the Troop A Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team assisted on the reconstruction work. That means the accident reports are filed with the Georgia Department of Public Safety, not with Bartow County.

What does homicide by vehicle in the first degree mean in Georgia?
It is the felony charge for causing a death while committing certain serious traffic offenses, including DUI and reckless driving. Under the 2020 Georgia Code published by Justia, O.C.G.A. 40-6-393 sets the penalty on conviction at not less than three and not more than 15 years. A charge is an accusation, not a finding of guilt.

How do I get a copy of the accident report?
Because Georgia State Patrol worked all three accidents, the reports go to the Georgia Department of Public Safety rather than to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office. GSP reports are typically not available for several business days.

How many people die on Georgia roads each year?
The Governor's Office of Highway Safety counted 1,615 traffic fatalities in Georgia in 2023, down 10 percent from 1,796 in 2022. For 2024, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety counts 1,403 motor vehicle accident deaths in Georgia.

How often are motorcyclists and pedestrians the ones killed?
More often than their share of traffic suggests. Of the 1,403 Georgia accident deaths IIHS counted in 2024, 182 were motorcyclists and 286 were pedestrians — together about one in three.

What time of day do these accidents happen?
All three Bartow County accidents happened in the middle of the night, between about 12:30 a.m. and 2:12 a.m. Nationally, IIHS reports that 73 percent of pedestrian deaths in 2024 occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

What is still unknown about these accidents?
The identity of the Sentra driver, the identity of the Dodge Journey driver, whether charges will follow in the Highway 20 or Highway 41 accidents, the results of any toxicology testing, and the funeral arrangements for the three people killed.