Graham, the scientifically and artistically-designed humanoid creature in the video above, is what the average human male might look like if our bodies had evolved over time to survive the stresses and impacts from traffic accidents.
Graham was designed under the auspices of Melbourne, Australia’s Traffic Accident Commission and his purpose is simple: to illustrate just how vulnerable the real human body truly is to the shearing forces encountered every time one two-ton hunk of moving metal plows into another moving hunk.
In concert with artists, physicians, and engineers, TAC Melbourne analyzed just what kind of changes the human form might need to undergo to get through being t-boned at 55 m.p.h. at an intersection and still walk away unscathed.
They came up with the alarmingly real-looking and nightmarish interactive sculpture seen in their videos. In another video below, Dr. Christian Kenfield explains a bit about Graham’s evolution from a medical perspective:
We totally get what the Melbourne group was up to and it’s pretty effective—as long as you don’t spend a lot of time looking at Graham. The message is simple: make sure your airbags are maintained, buckle up, and slow down and watch when you’re on the road.
Because no one, we mean no one wants to be cryogenically frozen tomorrow only to awaken in a future world where humans did actually end up looking like this guy, simply because humans never ended up wanting to be the first weakling to put on the brakes.
For a very thorough look at more videos of Graham—which explain his body composition in distressing details—browse the Project Graham website. Jalopnik has also arranged all the videos detailing Graham’s lovely form here.
Then, you know, maybe have a drink or two to wipe the guy’s shirtless form from your brain. Just whatever you do, don’t drive after you have the drinks. Because Graham.
h/t Jalopnik