I never lived where snow & ice were a serious problem all Winter, but the one time I DID have studded tires, they were they only thing that got me home one day.

One of those freezing drizzle days at 25F. I started home from work and fell on my butt just trying to scrape the windows...then when I turned onto a main road, there was a red light, and only one car was getting thru on each light change! I puttered gaily homeward in my OLD VW bus (rear engine!)with studded tires (came with the used vehicle). I went up hills, around other cars which were just spinning tires. I went into driveways, thru parking lots...anything to get past cars which couldn't move. A trip which normally took me 30 minutes took 2 hours. (I could have done it in under an hour if all those non-studded tire folks had gotten out of my way!)