At a road traffic accident scene, fragments recovered from the roadway consist of small, roughly cubical pieces with no long sharp shards. This fracture behaviour indicates the glass originated from:

• A The laminated windscreen
• B A tempered side or rear window ✓
• C An ordinary annealed bottle
• D A wired glass panel

Explanation

Tempered glass is heat treated so its surfaces hold compression; when it fails it disintegrates into small, relatively blunt cubical dice rather than sharp shards, which is why it is used for vehicle side and rear windows. A laminated windscreen holds together on its plastic interlayer and does not dice. Annealed glass breaks into large jagged pieces, and wired glass retains a wire mesh, none of which matches cubical fragments.

Reference: Saferstein, Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, 11th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.