A lot can happen in the 6,000 miles between tire alignments and oil changes, but crashing into a parked police vehicle usually isn’t one of those things.
Although the introductory screen of Pokemon Go explicitly tells users to “be alert at all times” and “stay aware of your surroundings,” some individuals, including one Baltimore man, elect to ignore the warning.
The man in question was driving and playing the augmented reality game at the same time, and then proceeded to speed through an intersection and sideswipe a parked Baltimore Police Department vehicle.
Fortunately, the two officers with the car were standing outside and nobody was injured during the incident.
In an even greater stroke of luck, one of the officers caught the entire incident on a body camera.
The footage is jaw-dropping. In the video, two officers can be seen speaking to one another, and the car can be seen coming through the intersection. After the collision, the police officers rush to the driver.
The driver then gets out of the car, holds out his phone to the officers and says, “That’s what I get for playing this dumb a** game.”
Though nobody was injured in this incident, it could have been much worse. Humans aren’t accident proof, after all.
However, that hasn’t stopped one Australian artist from imagining what a car crash-proof human would look like if they existed.
Developed as part of a new road safety campaign in Australia, a lifelike sculpture named Graham was “designed with bodily features that might be present in humans if they had evolved to withstand the forces involved in [car] crashes,” according to the Transport Accident Commission in the state of Victoria.
With help from road safety engineer Dr. David Logan and trauma surgeon Christian Kenfield, Melbourne based artist Patricia Piccinini brought the vision of Graham to fruition.
Some of the crash-proof qualities of Graham’s anatomy include a massive skull to protect the brain; a flat, fatty face capable of absorbing the energy of an impact; no neck, eliminating the possibility of it being broken; stronger, thicker skin; and ribs fortified with their own air bags.
Frankly, Graham would be able to walk away from a high-speed crash with little difficulty.
“Graham helps us understand why we need to improve every aspect of our roads system to protect ourselves from our own mistakes,” said TAC chief executive Joe Calafiore.
“We have to accept people will always make mistakes, but modern vehicle safety technology and safe road design can drastically reduce the forces involved when a crash happens, making them more survivable,” he added.
While people may make mistakes, the Baltimore Police Department has made it clear that playing Pokemon Go while driving should not be one of them.
“This is serious stuff. It’s a game, but it’s not a game when you’re behind the wheel of a 2,000-pound vehicle, driving down the roadway,” said Baltimore Police spokesman T.J. Smith at a press conference.