Graham, the only person to survive car crashes

Meet “Graham,” the only person designed to survive car crashes.

The Transport Accident Commission launched its latest road safety project, highlighting how susceptible the human body is to the forces involved in transport accidents.

In a shift from its traditional road safety campaigns, the TAC has collaborated with a leading trauma surgeon, a crash investigation expert and a world-renowned Melbourne artist to produce ‘Graham’, an interactive lifelike sculpture demonstrating human vulnerability.

Graham, the only person to survive car crashes (1)

Graham has been designed with bodily features that might be present in humans if they had evolved to withstand the forces involved in crashes. Studies have shown that the human body can only cope with impacts at speeds people can reach on their own, unassisted by vehicles.

TAC’s interactive sculpture by artist Patricia Piccinini – Meet Graham, TAC 201

TAC chief executive officer Joe Calafiore, 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.”

Graham, the only person to survive car crashes (2)