> I mean, I don't support you're that likely to spin the car when it's 
> barely moving to start with. Just slide into the curb, really. (Or into 
> some expensive car, at least...)

Having a rear wheel drive car makes it vastly easier to spin around.  In a 
front wheel drive car you are more likely to just go straight in a corner 
and hit the barrier/curb, in a RWD car you are more likely to end up facing 
the wrong way.

> Yeah, well... some people don't seem to realise that this is even the 
> wrong response.

If you want to stop your car actually spinning around and are happy for it 
just to carry on sliding in a predictable manner then slamming on the brakes 
is the best thing to do.  If you don't then at some point the car will get 
some grip back and make some sudden movement you probably weren't expecting. 
Depends on the situation of course, but it's wrong to say never brake if you 
are skidding.

> In Switzerland, the mountain roads are under snow for half the year, and 
> nobody seems to care much. OTOH... snowchains?

And thick snow is predictable, patchy ice isn't.

> I guess that's the thing. When I was a child, it used to snow *every 
> year*. As in, the whole country would be under perhaps a foot or so of 
> snow for at least a few weeks every single year.

Sorry, but IIRC I'm roughly the same age as you and I certainly don't 
remember it ever being like that.  I can remember ONCE when we had as much 
snow as you seem to have had recently, that was the only time I got to see a 
snow plough come down our road.  Certainly it never lasted for more than a 
day or two, and certainly not every year.

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