The hypothesis that mispreception of an automobile's centerline is related to pedal error was tested in 8 late-model automobiles. Pedal error is described as hitting the accelerator pedal when instructed to depress brake pedal. One hundred twenty-nine subjects participated in an experiment in which pedal errors and perceived centerline were measured in all 8 automobiles. The results indicate that subjects misperceive the centerline of the automobile to be to the right of the actual centerline. Although 26 pedal errors were reported, no relationship between pedal errors and misperceived centerline was found.
Abstract