According to a safety campaign from the Transport Accident Commission, Graham is the ideal specimen for surviving a auto accident.
Advertisement
In addition to an extremely large skull created to protect Graham’s delicate brain from the intense forces in most vehicle crashes, the mannequin also has thicker skin, padded ribs, and flexible spring-loaded legs.
TAC officials hope Graham will help people understand the importance of designing safer roadways.
Calafiore said the science of human vulnerability underpinned Victoria’s new Towards Zero approach to road trauma reduction.
The human is dubbed Graham, who is an interactive, life-size sculpture, having a grotesque human look.
Logan, along with Kenfield, explained Piccini the physics behind vehicle crashes, how the body responds and how it should be like to resist high-speed impact.
The $200,000 Australian sculpture can be explored online.
Asking the public to take notice of a road safety campaign is an uphill battle as jaded drivers become immune to gory images of fatal accidents but humanoid “Graham” has made everyone sit up and take notice. His face is flat, with tiny features surrounded by lots of fatty tissues that protect them. These include a flattened face resulting from repeated impacts with airbags, and a head as large as the chest that makes the neck disappear. His joints and knees bend in all directions to embrace trauma.
Graham is on display at the State Library of Victoria until early August, and then he will be going on a road show throughout the state. “Our bodies are just not equipped to handle the forces in common crash scenarios”, said David Logan, a team member on the project.
Advertisement
Because the reality is humans are designed to cope with impacts at speeds we create (running, walking, jumping), and no more.
