This story of noticeably fewer bugs on the car windshield was something I mentioned at least five years ago in one of my reports from personal observation following a visit driving across the state of Nebraska to Eastern Nebraska farm country. When I was a child, there were so many! We are well on our way to sterilizing farm country. But, not just in the U.S.
From PLOS ONE:
More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas
From PLOS ONE:
More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas
...we used a standardized protocol to measure total insect biomass using Malaise traps, deployed over 27 years in 63 nature protection areas in Germany (96 unique location-year combinations) to infer on the status and trend of local entomofauna. Our analysis estimates a seasonal decline of 76%, and mid-summer decline of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study.