Magazine Essay

Jaywalking refers to the violation of pedestrian laws, usually by crossing a street illegally or crossing intersections without yielding to drivers. Originally, the Jaywalking rule was that every person has an equal right in the highway; consequently, in exercising his or her rights, everyone shall take due care so as not to injure other users of the way. However, over time, streets have become the domain of motorized traffic, legally and practically. Currently, jaywalking laws require that pedestrians obey traffic control signals unless they are instructed otherwise. People jaywalk for various reasons including convenience, personal safety, or due to impractical laws. The magazine story used in this assignment helps make a correlation with the photo project. The magazine is chosen because the autodriving system can help solve the jaywalking problem.

The Overall story Arc of the Magazine Story

In the story about self-driving cars, Shladover mentions that electronic chauffeurs will soon be able to take people to whenever they want to go safely, but only if there are no left turns across traffic. Besides, the author states that should there be self-driving cars, cases of pedestrians running in front of cars, which actually violates jaywalking rules, could reduce significantly because people will be walking or taking subways.

In addition, Shladover argues that with technology advancement, engineers have managed to automate other driving subtasks. For instance, currently, there are adaptive cruise control systems that can maintain an appropriate speed as well as spacing behind other vehicles. In addition, lane-keeping systems in vehicle models such as Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti, which rely on sensors, cameras, or steering control, have ensured that vehicles always keep centered in their lanes. The total U.S. traffic safety statistics for the year 2011 as presented in the magazine indicates that there was one crash in every 3.3 million hours of driving with injuries that resulted in crashes being witnessed once in every 64, 000 hours of driving (Shladover 82). The resulting numbers provided an opportunity to set a critical safety target for self-driving systems, which should not be less than human driving in terms of reliability for safety guarantee.

The author further claims that getting to the level of having self-driving cars, that are more reliable than human drivers, will not be easy and would require advances in both engineering and signal processing (Shladover 82). Certainly, engineers will need new methods to design software that will be both correct and safe even when conditions are complex and change rapidly (Shladover 82). An automated vehicle will have to track many other vehicles as well as possible obstacles and make immediate decisions. Therefore, the overall arc of the magazine story is that self-driving cars could help prevent many accidents in the future, unlike now when many accidents occur due to jaywalking which results in deaths or high medical treatment costs.

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The use of the Principles of Design and Visual Components used in the Magazine

One of the principles of design is balance, which implies visual equilibrium, relating to a physical sense of balance. All the photos have shapes, which have been used to identify various vehicles, freeways, drivers on a steering wheel, horizon, trees, buildings, and hills towards the horizon. Besides, various lines have been used to create an edge, especially where the lines have met. Importantly, all the lines used in the photos have direction, for instance, the horizontal lines could be indicative of calmness, tranquility, and stability while the vertical lines seem to represent movement and action. The textures of the photos seem to show that there are rough, hard, soft, and glossy surfaces. For instance, the texture of the vehicles surfaces are presented as smooth and glossy while the texture of the roads is presented as hard, yet t smooth. Different colors have also been used, including yellow, orange, blue, red, black, pink, green, grey, and, white. The varieties of colors such as red, blue, and green could have been used to create hue while the light colors, such as the light green color on page 82, could have been used to create value. Finally, there were both bright and dull colors in the photos, which created intensity. Notably, balance has been achieved by arranging the photos either symmetrically or asymmetrically considering that an object that is not balanced is bound to tip over.

The picture sequence begins from page 78, where there is an abstract photo that seems to represent a self-driven car. The photo could have been used to direct the reader to the topic that was discussed in the magazine. The second photo is on page 81. It is an abstract comparison between the human driver and the system monitoring the environment. Real pictures can be seen from the third photo on page 82 to the fourth and fifth photos found on page 83. The third picture has been used to show how the automatic systems installed in self-driving cars, would, for instance, be used to maintain distance in a highway. The fourth and fifth photos are the representations of the way European car manufacturers intend to test vehicles equipped with systems for automatic driving in freeways.

The caption used in the magazine begins with the presentation of a title, which appears to have been written boldly, using different colors and quoting some words, possibly to encourage both viewership and readership. Besides, the author has used a caption in the first paragraph where a large “S” letter is used. The first sentence is also written in bold while the rest of the sentences in the paragraph have font sizes that are different from the subsequent paragraphs. The caption is also evident in the way the titles and subtitles have been presented in different font sizes and in bold. The captions are often the most read sections of a publication; therefore, it is possible that the author used them to direct the readers to where the important points of the topic of discussion can be easily found. Besides, the captions under the various photos were used to describe and illustrate the latter.

The first photo appears to have been used to show that the world heads in the direction of robots or self-driving cars. Even though the technology may appear to be at the initial stage, people could soon start using cars that would prevent accidents caused by jaywalking. The second photo has been used to show the differences between human monitor drivers and system monitor drivers. Evidently, in human driver environments, only partial automation as well as drivers’ assistance are present. On the other hand, system monitor environments are characterized by conditional automation, high automation, or instances of full automation. The third image has been used to show that with self-driving cars, it will be possible to sense when another car is near and to ensure that a car remains in its lane and keeps an appropriate distance to prevent possible accidents caused by Jay Walking. The last two images have been used to show that some of the European car manufacturers are already planning test-drives to determine if automated driving is possible in freeways with their cars.

The first object is a car found on the cover page of the magazine. The object presented is radially symmetrical on the page. It is in the center of the page with near equal spaces unused on the left and right hand side, above, and below the object. Therefore, the object is fitting appropriately in the allocated space. The photo on the cover page has a tactile texture making the robotic care appear 3-dimensional. Yellow, blue, red, brown and pink colours have been applied contrastingly to create the impression of a vehicle that seems to be moving in the evening. Besides, the colors have been used to create a landscape and the sky. In the first photo, the space has been used economically because the author has not wasted space. The author has not used a very small image nor has he used unnecessarily large space to blur the object.

The second photo on page 81 describes the ladder of automation. The two dimensional photo covers nearly three-quarters of the page and is also radially symmetrical; however, it has a visual texture. The colors used include sky blue, dark blue, yellow, orange, and pink colors, which have been used to create the information ladder for various aspects of driving. The image has been presented well considering available space. Notably, the image is neither too small nor too big for the space; therefore, the resultant picture is not blurred.

The third photo on page 82 of the magazine has two vehicles, with one of the vehicle having a sensor to keep distance from another vehicle and remain on its lane. The type of texture used in the photo is visual. This photo covers a quarter of the page and the rest of the page and it is arranged asymmetrically towards the right upper right hand side while the remaining space is covered with writing. The varieties of colors used in the photo include grey, orange, black, white, and grey. The colors have been employed to create the impression of an area where one vehicle can sense another, maintain appropriate distance and keep to its lane. The colors have also been exploited to create the impression that the two vehicles are moving along a highway. There is a small image in this picture, but the space has not been misused because the other sections have been filled with writings that have provided more information about the study topic. In this picture, the image is not blurred. The two vehicles have been presented as if they were moving in the same direction.

The two final photos are found on page 83 indicating vehicles in a freeway. The photos are three-dimensional, cover one quarter of the whole page, and are presented with approximate symmetry at the top of the page. The two photos have a visual texture. Various colours have been used in the photo including blue, green, and white to create the impression of vegetation, buildings, a highway, hills, and a looming horizon. Undoubtedly, the photos have a visual unity. In the photos presented in the magazine, all the elements are in agreement: from rhythm, perspective, similarity, to continuation. It is also worth noting that, in the last two images, the use of space displays economy . The other has used only the upper part of the page to present the two images while preserving the rest of the page for the texts; still, the resultant image is not blurred. The images, particularly the vehicles, appear as if they were in motion.

Conclusion

Jaywalking is a problem that has resulted in the loss of millions of lives. However, through innovations, it is possible to develop self-driving cars, which could help minimize the problem. The magazine used in this assignment provides the innovative technologies that are currently in place as engineers are trying to create self-driving cars. Importantly, the author has used various principles and elements of design including space, line, shape, balance, camera controls, texture, lighting, and colors to present his ideas.