Lifestyle

If Humans Evolved To Survive Car Crashes, This Is What We'd Look Like

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Sure, we've all heard miraculous stories about lucky drivers who walk away from horrific accidents somehow unscathed.

But have you ever wondered what it would take for all humans to survive high-speed car crashes without enduring fatal injuries, sans all the safety features like seat belts and airbags?

The Victorian Government recently set out to answer this question with its latest road safety campaign. With the help of Melbourne-based sculptor Patricia Piccinini, the designers were able to create the campaign's newest ambassador, Graham.

If you take one look at Graham's massive chest, super-sized head, abundance of nipples and missing neck, you'll quickly discover this strange-looking guy is not your average human.

That's because Graham's warped body has been specifically designed to survive car crashes.

Piccinini elicited the help of trauma surgeon Christian Kenfield and road safety engineer David Logan while building Graham's accident-impervious body.

Apparently, Graham's huge chest and extra nipples are intended to protect his rib cage, similar to an airbag, while the padding located between each his ribs are designed to protect his heart.

The fact that Graham doesn't have a neck prevents him from suffering whiplash and broken bones, while his flattened face protects his nose and ears from injury. Plus, this superhuman is also decked out in a thick layer of tough skin to minimize abrasions.

Graham also has some features designed to save him in the event of a pedestrian accident, including a set of strong legs to help him jump out of danger's way and knees that bend in all directions to prevent him from breaking his legs.

According to Dr. Logan,

In the modern world we're subjecting ourselves to much higher speeds and the body just doesn't have the physiology to absorb the energy when things go wrong [...] A crash is about managing energy so when we're moving along the road we have energy. When we suddenly stop the car because we're in a crash that energy has to be absorbed by the car and by the driver.

I think we should all be pretty thankful cars are equipped with high-tech safety features because I don't think any of us would want to look like this freaky human being. No offense or anything, Graham.

Check out the video above to see what humans would have to look like to survive car accidents.

Citations: How the human body would have to be built to survive a catastrophic car crash: Sculptor creates 'super human' with massive head, extra nipples and no neck to launch road safety campaign (Daily Mail)