Car's Sunroof Shatters On Drive Through Suburban Construction Zone

(CBS) -- A shower, on a sunny day, wasn't what one northwest suburban couple expected. Shards of glass rained down them from their car's shattered sunroof as they drove through a construction zone.

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov explains how it happened in this Original Report.

"Driving in the center lane on I-90 and all of the sudden the glass starts coming in on us," said John Schneidwind.

Schneidwind says it happened quickly with no warning and no idea what hit them and caused their car's sunroof to shatter.

"All of sudden I hear a huge bang and I turned to Bridgette and I say, 'something just hit our car,'" he said.

Schneidwind and his wife were driving near a stretch of I-90 just west of Route 59 Saturday morning when it happened. It's a construction zone and Schneidwind says he wasn't under an overpass or near any semis at the time.

He says, "whatever object hit it, hit strait on," sending shards of glass all over their heads.

They kept driving because, being a construction zone, they couldn't pull over right away.

"I tend to believe the construction had something to do with it because there are so many trucks that are moving on and off that expressway," Schneidwind said.

Considering there seems to be construction everywhere these days, we asked the Illinois Tollway Authority what procedures contractors must follow to keep sites debris free. A spokesperson responded by saying the authority is dedicated to providing and promoting a safe and efficient system of highways," with no clarification on site clean-up requirements, but drivers with damage can always file a claim.

"We were very, very fortunate that it was just the glass that broke," Schneidwind said.

So how many construction-related damage claims has the tollway paid out over the last couple of years? Tollway spokesperson Daniel Rozek was not able to give us that information Tuesday night.