NEW BADEN, Ill. — If you just saw the car, you might think this happened in a war zone.
For Sheri Keleman, it was on a stretch of road she drives every day.
"I had to pick up my granddaughter from school to take her to dance," Sheri said.
She was almost to the Mascoutah exit of eastbound Interstate 64 in the Metro East, when the next thing she knew, she heard a loud crash.
"It was just a big boom and I heard fizzing, which was apparently the air coming through the glass," she says.
Remarkably, she maintained control and made it off the interstate. Her first thought was her 6-year-old granddaughter in the back seat.
"And I was wiping the glass off her, she just had slivers everywhere," Sheri said.
It was a pavement reflector that crashed through their windshield. Sheri's husband James was speechless when he examined the car.
"It impaled the seat, anybody sitting here, there’s no odds of survival," James said.
He's now calling on IDOT to make a change.
"Why are you not looking for these missiles, and the known sections of roadways that are coming apart?" he said.
A spokesperson for IDOT said they are investigating what happened and are taking the matter seriously.
They tell us they've already searched that stretch of I-64 for other loose reflectors and say, as of right now, there's no immediate threat to drivers.
They're also checking other roads around that stretch of highway out of an abundance of caution.
IDOT added that if you see something that could be a hazard, give them a call immediately.
Sheri said she's living proof that road conditions are not OK.
"I don’t want a grandmother or a mother to have to lose somebody because of something that could have been helped," Sheri said.