Thoughts On What Might Have Caused This?

Sunday morning at about 10am I was driving eastbound on I94 about ten miles south of Wisconsin Dells. There wasn't much traffic and I was in the process of passing a slow moving box truck. So I'm in the left lane and as I'm about to pull back into the right lane, SMACK!!! My drivers side window just shatters. There was a hole about the size of a softball in the lower front, there was glass all over the floor and in my lap. The rest of the shattered glass was just kind of hanging in place. By the time I got pulled over at a rest area a little further up the road about half of the glass had fallen out.

I cleaned up the mess in my truck and removed the remaining glass from the window. I located a Menards about 15 miles further up the road where I bought a couple sheets of a plexiglass type material and was able to make a patchwork window with the plexiglass and a whole bunch of Gorilla tape which held up well until I got back home on Wednesday.

Other than a bullet, I can't think of anything else that could have caused this.

WOW!

Did you look for a bullet or similar in the cab? Do you drive for Swift or Schneider? (Just kidding.)

WOW!

Did you look for a bullet or similar in the cab? Do you drive for Swift or Schneider? (Just kidding.)

I did look very carefully as I was cleaning it up but didn't find anything. Whatever struck the window must have ricochet out.

I lost a window in my personal car, passenger side window. I was driving by a park, as soon as it happened I stopped, I did block a lane and stopped where I shouldn’t have, and scouted around looking at my surroundings. I then made my determination on what I thought it might have been, and put my phone on record, video and sound and had it sticking out of my shirt pocket recording, got the huge iPhone that pokes halfway out. I walked up and flagged a guy down mowing the lawn and made it look casual and asked him if he hit a rock. Played it off like “wow man I heard that rock did you see it go flying?”… he responded with yes, omg it was nuts, that thing flew! And then I told him, yes it my window and shattered it. He denied ever hitting a rock from that point on. I called police, filed a report, allowed him to deny it, then pulled out the recording after all the reports and statements were done. Got a new window!

A rock flung from the other side of the highway? Just big enough to smack off the glass, never be found again. Or it did come through and you found it but didn't make the connection?

Could a bird... Nah, suppose there would be some evidence of that.

Golf ball? Who's playing in December?

Stray pellet from shot gun blast? Maybe had enough velocity and small enough to be overlooked, or bounced off the glass. Similar to what you were saying about a bullet.

Do you have those wind wings, or whatever they're called, that wrap around the A pillar? Maybe caught a rock from the front and it was funnelled around and hit right near the front edge of the window? Probably bounced off in the process.

A rock flung from the other side of the highway? Just big enough to smack off the glass, never be found again. Or it did come through and you found it but didn't make the connection?

Could a bird... Nah, suppose there would be some evidence of that.

Golf ball? Who's playing in December?

Stray pellet from shot gun blast? Maybe had enough velocity and small enough to be overlooked, or bounced off the glass. Similar to what you were saying about a bullet.

Do you have those wind wings, or whatever they're called, that wrap around the A pillar? Maybe caught a rock from the front and it was funnelled around and hit right near the front edge of the window? Probably bounced off in the process.

I was in a rural area of southern Wisconsin and the median is pretty wide where it happened so I doubt it could have been a rock that somehow came from the westbound lanes. I looked very carefully as I was cleaning up the glass but didn't find anything and I also don't have wings that could have funneled something. Whatever it was must have come at me at about a 45 degree angle, otherwise it would have hit the mirror before it could have hit the window. Hitting at an angle would also support the idea that whatever it was bounced out.

It was the last day of deer season in Wisconsin and I was traveling through a rural area.

Quite the mystery!

Right in that exact same area I had a large bird hit the top of my windshield dead on.

Didn't shatter my windshield but it about gave me a heart attack.

Lots of wildlife in that region, that's the only area of the country that I routinely see dead bears on the side of the road. Hell, I saw a car with cops around it with a bear on the hood.

My guess? Bird. But who knows.