Lane Position Maintenance by Automobile Drivers on Two Types of Highway

Lane position maintenance was studied by using a photoelectric device that, when mounted on an automobile, made it possible to record the vehicle's track in real-world driving. Twelve subjects were tested on four-lane and two-lane highways during the daytime. Results showed that, in general, the drivers tended to stay almost exactly in the centres of their lanes; and that dispersions of positions about the centre in ind ividual tracks were small in size and nearly normal in shape. More small oscillations near the centre were rocorded on the two-lane highway than on the four-lane highway, but otherwise driving patterns were almost identical on the two. One of the most interesting findings was that intrasubject and intersubject variation were extremely small.