StressedDave wrote:OK, I see where the confusion lies. There are two separate systems that you have conflated. You have the neuromuscular system, ie the method by which your brain interacts with your muscular system to 'operate' the controls and you have the vehicle dynamics system,where the outputs from the first system are translated into accelerations which in turn develop through velocity into position and attitude.
I'm not sure there is any confusion. To put it simply: we're looking at what the driver is doing to the controls versus what the car is doing on the road.
StressedDave wrote:Now if we separate those two systems, the vehicle dynamics system is only concerned with amplitude and rate coming out of your neuromuscular system and not the method by which they have been developed. In short, if you're providing the right amount of steering at the right rate, the car doesn't give a flying f$ck whether it has been generated by steering using pull-push or by pressure from your left bollock.
That may be the case on a very basic level. For example, if the driver has one hand on the wheel, then the output at that moment will be the same as if he had two hands on the wheel. The problems start when the driver comes across something unexpected requiring a reaction. The driver with two hands on the wheel is going to be inherently better able to cope and, therefore, safer. So the inputs, IMO, most definitely do matter.
StressedDave wrote:Now if we apply a similar process to the interaction between your vehicle and the rest of the world, then we should be looking at whether the driver is in the right place, at the right time and at the right speed. None of those three things are dependent on what they're doing with the controls.
Again, you're ignoring the unexpected. Good inputs will allow the driver to be better able to react.
StressedDave wrote:In summary, whilst there is a link between what goes in and what comes out, 'good' inputs do not necessarily mean good outputs. A simple example - a corner needs 90 degrees of steering wheel lock. Which would you prefer? A pull push steerer who gives you 87 degrees or someone steering with their knees who gives you the 90 needed.
I'm struggling to see your point. What you're describing are two BAD inputs but for different reasons. Although bad inputs don't necessarily result in bad outputs (in your example above, the steering with the knees is the only input that gets the job done), the reverse is not the case. Good inputs must always result in good outputs, otherwise they're not good inputs.
In my opinion, it's far more productive to teach drivers good inputs and let the outputs take care of themselves. Although I would be more concerned with looking at the mental processes that create the inputs in the first place.
There's also a good argument that a driver with good observation and hazard awareness steering with his knees will be inherently safer than a driver lacking in these skills steering with both hands. If you can't identify the hazard, you can't react to it. But that's a different argument.