We propose a novel algorithm capable of recognizing the road lane by image processing. Considering the fact that the direction and location of road lane are maintained similarly in successive images we formulate a function to represent the property. However, as noises play the role of making a lot of similar patterns appear and disappear in the road image, keeping of robustness in the lane detection has been known a difficult work. To overcome this problem, we introduce the following three ideas: 1) design of a function based on an edge direction and magnitude, 2) construction of a recursive filter to estimate the function recursively for successive images, 3) principal axis-based line fitting. These concepts enhance the adaptability to cope with the random environment of traffic scene and eventually lead to the reliable detection of a road lane.