Preferred time headway in car-following and individual differences in perceptual-motor skills

18 subjects were tested in a simulator to assess whether choice of time headway in car-following is related to individual differences in perceptual-motor skills. Drivers with a larger preferred time headway committed larger steering errors while driving on a winding road and were less accurate in maintaining a constant distance to a lead vehicle that varied its speed between 80 and 100 km/hr. compared to drivers with a smaller preferred time headway. Also, time to collision with the lead vehicle hardly affected the braking response of drivers with a larger preferred time headway. In contrast, the braking response of drivers with a smaller preferred time headway was strongly affected by time to collision with the lead vehicle. The results support the hypothesis that preferred time headway is at least to some extent the result of adaptation to the driver's braking performance and perceptual-motor skills.