The truth is that cars have evolved
a lot faster than we have.

Our bodies are just not equipped
to handle the forces

in common crash scenarios.

I'm Dr David Logan.

I'm a Senior Research Fellow

at the Monash University
Accident Research Centre.

My name's Christian Kenfield.

I'm a trauma surgeon here
at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

My name Patricia Piccinini
and I'm an artist.

On a nearly daily basis, I see the
effects of motor vehicle accidents,

both passengers, drivers,

and, of course, the pedestrians
that are involved in these accidents.

In the modern world we're subjecting
our bodies to much higher speeds

and the body just doesn't have
the physiology to absorb the energy

when things go wrong.

The dangers at even low speeds such
as 25, 30, 25km/h is quite great.

So if we were to try to design
the body, if we were able to do that,

in a way that would afford
more protection...

It's a difficult question. It's not
something that we think about often.

What excites me about this project is
its relevance to our community.

I get to collaborate
with really interesting people

and that's really energising.

I really feel as though it's possibly
to make a difference in road safety.

We really work hard on developing
evidence-based research.

In 50% of crashes,
the car doesn't have time to break.

PATRICIA: So what happens
to the body?

Does it go under or over?

For the higher cars,
like four-wheel drives,

instead of going over the top
of the bonnet,

if they're high enough,
they'll catch you

and they'll drag you underneath
instead.

The most significant part of the body
for injury is the head.

And so as the head stops, the brain
actually keeps moving forwards,

smashing against
the front part of the skull,

and then bouncing backwards

and getting an injury
on the back of the head as well.

And we just don't appreciate when
we're talking about it

the forces in a car accident,
but they're incredible.

The strongest man cannot hold himself
from going forwards in a car accident

because the forces are so great.

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.

It would be great
if we had more protection.

We want to stop over time.

What we need to be thinking
is airbag rather than armour.

It's sad that we need to think about
changing our body

just so that we can survive
a motor vehicle crash.

PATRICIA: For me,
this is a challenge to make it work,

that it's not just a museum piece.

It can be the vehicle
for a very important idea.