We aren't built for 60 mph. Honestly, it's that simple. Human biology is a masterpiece of prehistoric engineering, designed for sprinting after prey or climbing trees, not for hitting a concrete barrier at highway speeds. Evolution is slow. Physics is fast. When you realize that the first mass-produced cars only hit the road about a century ago, you start to see the problem. We are using Stone Age skeletons to handle Space Age momentum.
The Reality of Human Evolution to Survive Car Crash
Back in 2016, the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in Victoria, Australia, decided to stop showing us bloody wreckage and start showing us ourselves. Or rather, what we’d need to look like if we wanted to walk away from a high-speed wreck without the help of airbags. They teamed up with a trauma surgeon named Christian Kenfield, a crash investigation expert named David Logan, and a world-renowned artist, Patricia Piccinini.
The result was "Graham."
Graham isn't a real person, but he is a scientifically accurate biological blueprint. If you look at the human evolution to survive car crash, Graham is the destination. He is unsettling to look at. He has no neck. His face is flat and fatty. He has extra nipples between his ribs that act like natural airbags.
He’s a freak. But he’s a freak who survives.
Why your neck is your biggest weakness
Your neck is basically a thin stalk supporting a ten-pound bowling ball. In a collision, that ball—your head—snaps forward with enough force to tear ligaments and crush vertebrae. Graham doesn't have that problem because he doesn't have a neck. His ribs reach all the way up to his skull, turning his entire upper torso into a reinforced pillar.
It’s a brutal trade-off. You lose the ability to turn your head to check your blind spot, but you gain the ability to keep your spine intact when you rear-end a semi-truck. In the current state of human evolution to survive car crash, we rely on headrests and HANS devices (in racing) to do what Graham’s anatomy does naturally.
The radiator of the human body: The Ribs
The human rib cage is okay at protecting your lungs from a punch, but it’s pretty pathetic against a steering column. To fix this, Graham’s ribs are much thicker. But the real genius—if you can call it that—is the "airbag" system. Between each of his ribs are small, sack-like protrusions. These act as shock absorbers.
When an impact occurs, these sacks take the hit, compressing and slowing the internal momentum of the organs. Without them, your heart and lungs just slam into the inside of your chest wall. That's usually what kills people—not the broken bones, but the internal bruising and tearing of major arteries like the aorta.
Evolution vs. Engineering
Let’s talk about skin. Yours is thin. It’s soft. It’s great for sweating and sensing a breeze, but it’s basically tissue paper against asphalt. Graham’s skin is thick and leathery. It’s designed to resist "road rash" and degloving injuries.
But here’s the kicker.
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Even with all these "upgrades," Graham isn't invincible. The experts involved in the project, like Dr. Kenfield, were quick to point out that even this hypothetical version of human evolution to survive car crash has limits. There is only so much force a brain can take. Your brain is a jelly-like mass floating in cerebrospinal fluid. When you stop instantly from 50 mph, your brain hits the front of your skull, then bounces and hits the back. This is "coup-contrecoup" injury.
Graham’s skull is massive—much larger than ours—with extra fluid and "crumple zones" built into the bone structure. It’s basically a helmet grown from calcium.
- The skull acts as a literal helmet with built-in suspension.
- The knees move in all directions because, in a real crash, legs get twisted, not just snapped.
- The feet are hoof-like, allowing for a spring-loaded jump away from an oncoming car (if you're a pedestrian).
Why we will never actually look like Graham
Evolution requires two things: a lot of time and a "selective pressure."
For us to naturally evolve into Graham-like beings, people who die in car crashes would need to stop having children, while people with slightly thicker skulls and no necks would need to have lots of children. But we don't let that happen. We use technology to bypass evolution. We build better crumple zones in our Volvos. We invent emergency autonomous braking. We wear seatbelts.
Basically, we are using engineering to protect our fragile, "un-evolved" bodies.
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This is what the TAC was trying to prove. Since we aren't going to turn into Graham anytime soon, we have to change the roads and the cars. The project was part of a "Towards Zero" campaign. It highlights the fact that the human body has hit its physical limit. We cannot "evolve" our way out of the dangers of kinetic energy.
The Science of Kinetic Energy
The formula for kinetic energy is $E_k = \frac{1}{2}mv^2$.
Notice the "v-squared." If you double your speed, the energy doesn't double—it quadruples. If you triple your speed, the energy is nine times greater. Our bodies are evolved to handle the energy of a fall from a height or a sprint at 15 mph. Once you get into the realm of 40, 50, or 70 mph, the energy involved is simply beyond the structural integrity of human bone and soft tissue.
Graham is the physical manifestation of what is required to survive that math. He is a mirror held up to our own vulnerability.
Actionable insights for the un-evolved human
Since you don't have a reinforced skull or rib-airbags, you have to play the hand you're dealt.
- Check your headrest height. It should be level with the top of your ears. Its job isn't comfort; it's to prevent your head from snapping back and breaking your neck—the very neck Graham doesn't have.
- Stop "submarining." This happens when you slouch in your seat. In a crash, you slide under the lap belt, and the belt crushes your internal organs instead of catching your hip bones. Sit upright.
- Respect the "crumple zone." Modern cars are designed to be destroyed. If the front of your car looks like a crushed soda can after a wreck, it did its job. It spent the energy so your body didn't have to. Never buy a car that "feels like a tank" because it's stiff; stiffness kills the passenger, not the car.
- Understand pedestrian physics. Graham has hoof-like lower legs to jump out of the way. You don't. Most pedestrian injuries occur because the bumper hits the lower leg, snapping the tibia and throwing the head into the windshield. Stay alert in parking lots and crosswalks.
The story of Graham and the human evolution to survive car crash isn't really about biology. It’s about humility. It's a reminder that beneath our clothes and behind the steering wheel, we are still just fragile collections of water and bone, totally unprepared for the forces we've unleashed.
Until we grow extra nipples and lose our necks, the best survival strategy is simply slowing down.