Remember those little animated road safety mascot hedgehogs from the 90s, which taught kids how to cross the road to the tune of the Bee Gees? Well, now there’s this guy.
He's called Graham and he might look like he’s been dipping his toes in the shallow end of the gene pool, but he's actually a sculpture commissioned as part of an Australian road safety campaign.
Created by artist Patrician Piccinini in collaboration with a leading trauma surgeon, Graham is what human beings would look like if they had evolved specifically to withstand car crashes.
Designed by leading trauma surgeon
Once you get over the initial horror of seeing the human form so radically perverted, the sculpture’s body is actually pretty smart. For a start, he’s got no neck, which means he can’t break it.
His face is flat and fatty to protect his nose and ears, while his huge head acts like a bicycle helmet, protecting his brain from impacts and from whiplash injuries.
Those gross little sack things on his chest? Uneasy to look at as they are, those are air sacs which help absorb shock and protect the ribs – kind of like Citroen Cactus airbumps, but for people.
Fibreglass, silicone and real hair
Graham’s skin is much thicker and much tougher than a real-life human beings’, while his joints are reinforced and his knees designed to bend in all directions to avoid snapping in a collision.
From a durability standpoint at least, Graham’s got the whole package, even if he won’t be winning any beauty pageants. Every stupid drunken stunt you could hope to attempt, Graham can survive.
Described as an “education tool for discussion about human vulnerability”, the sculpture is made of fibreglass and silicone, with real human hair used on his head and on his goatee.
Cars have evolved, what about us?
Joe Calafiore, head of Australia’s Transport Accident Commission, said: “People can survive running at full pace into a wall but when you’re talking about collisions involving vehicles, the speeds are faster, the forces are greater and the chances of survival are much slimmer.
“Cars have evolved a lot faster than humans and Graham helps us understand why we need to improve every aspect of our roads system to protect ourselves from our own mistakes.”
Apart from that, Graham is reported to be an easygoing, everyday Australian bloke. Needless to say though, unless you're like him, try and stay safe on the roads.
