Rowell was driving a load of cars along the Kapiti Expressway in the early hours of Thursday morning and had heard on his radio about items being thrown off the Ngarara Rd overbridge.
"I'm driving through and next thing smash goes my windscreen, right in the centre."
He called police with his hands-free kit and was told to pull over, but refused to stop on the expressway. He instead stopped somewhere further along where an officer met him and took photos of his truck and the shattered windscreen.
He said he remained in full control of the truck the entire time, but if the object hit further to his side of the windscreen, he could have ended up with glass embedded in him.
"The inside of the cab was just coated in glass."
He wasn't the only victim. Other vehicles were caught in the hail of debris - when Constable Kieran Rawlinson arrived on scene there was "a sea of trucks with their hazard lights on" and a road littered with bits and pieces that had been chucked from the overbridge.
"Literally the road was covered in stuff, we had to get the roading crew in to clean it up," Rawlinson said.
He said police received six or seven phone calls when the rocks and other objects began being thrown. It's believed the bulk of the material was thrown on to passing traffic in both northbound and southbound lanes between 2.15 and 2.30am.
Rawlinson was on the scene within 20 seconds of the final phone call coming through to police.
A dog and handler were brought out, but there was no success. It is believed the person or people responsible escaped on bicycles.
These sort of things happen when you're in a road environment, there's always going to be someone doing something stupid.
"It did look like probably youths, because they had been pretty much grabbing any sort of weapon or opportunity."
One truck driver told police he caught a glimpse of what looked like a young male wearing a dark hoodie.
Rawlinson said it appeared the person or group had been on the overbridge for some time, as there had been a report of something being thrown off it at 1.15am as well.
"We have an idea of who it could be, youth-wise, but, you know, there's a lot of youths around the area that it could be."
He encouraged the people involved to make contact with police.
Rowell said it's not the first time something has been thrown at his truck, but it's the first time someone threw something at the windscreen.
"We do have a bit of drama and fun on the road at nights . . . these sort of things happen when you're in a road environment, there's always going to be someone doing something stupid."
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to email Constable Vinton of the Kapiti Police on BVDX33@police.govt.nz or send police a private message on Facebook. They can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A 15-year-old boy was jailed in 2006 for throwing an 8kg slab of concrete from a construction site near the Princes St overpass on to Auckland's Southern Motorway, killing Taupo man Chris Currie.
The rock went straight through the windscreen, glanced off Currie's chin and struck his chest, killing him instantly.
Ngatai Rewiti was 14 years old when he committed the crime, for which he received a manslaughter conviction and a four-year prison sentence.
