Crash-proof
A human sculpture named Graham has been designed by road safety experts to demonstrate what we'd need to look like to be able to survive a high speed car crash. Now he's not the most attractive guy but he does give us an interesting insight into why it's so important to stay safe on the roads.
Extra joints in the legs, airbags built into the chest, no neck, and a giant skull. This is Graham and he's not much of a looker. But according to the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria he's what a "human" would need to look like to survive a car crash.
David, Road Safety Expert: The truth is that cars have evolved faster than our bodies have, our bodies are just not equipped to handle the forces in common crash scenarios.
A team of experts worked with a famous artist to create this super strange looking guy. And they made him to show just how fragile our bodies are in a crash.
Christian, Trauma Surgeon: We just don't appreciate, when we're talking about it, the forces in a car accident. They're incredible. The strongest man cannot hold himself from going forward in a car accident because the forces are so great
Cars can be very dangerous. They're big, heavy, and they move around at very high speeds. Deaths on Australia's roads have slowly been dropping. From almost 4000 in 1970, down to about 1200 in 2015.
But that's still a lot. The reason why there are so many deaths on our roads is that our bodies aren't really designed to deal with the powerful forces of a crash.
REPORTER: And your head is the most vulnerable bit. Now, it might not feel like it but as you're driving along your whole body is moving forward at high speed. So that means, if the car stops suddenly your head keeps going like this putting a lot of force on your neck and spine. Inside your head that sudden jerking movement can cause your brain to crash into your skull too.
That's why Graham's face looks so, well, ugly. He's been designed to have no neck, a thicker skull, and a whole bunch of padding around the head to protect him.
David, Road Safety Expert: In the modern world we're subjecting our bodies to much higher speeds, and the body just doesn't have the physiology to absorb the energy when things go wrong
But Graham has a few other special modifications too. Extra joints in the legs and feet, along with extra tendons protect his legs. He's also got super tough skin to protect against cuts and bruises.
And although our ribs are already great protection for our organs, Graham has especially strong ribs with little air sacks between them to cushion him in a crash.
Graham's certainly not the best looking guy. But he's not meant to be. He's meant to show people how different we'd need to look to be 100% safe on our roads. And to remind drivers that if we can't all look like this, then we need to pay attention and follow rules to keeping everyone safe on the road.
- Carl Smith | Reporter
- Meet Graham: Towards Zero |
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- Victoria's TAC introduces human sculpture 'Graham' to stress importance of road safety: ABC News | weblink
- Australia:VIC | Map
- Crash-proof | Worksheet
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