Snow chains belong on tractors and land moving equipment, seriously. Studded winter tyres is the only smart choice for winter driving. No point in having studded tires unless you live in the woods you say ? Ever heard of black ice ?? Motorway ramp, a banked downhill one, 5 am, dark as hell, it's -20C......best of luck with that you and your unstudded winter tires. Of course it's no problem, but it is a bit too exciting for my first thing to do when I leave to work. I have one of these on my way to work, it's practically the first thing I encounter after leaving my driveway.
Black ice is the reason why I will never buy a set of unstudded for my car, especially since the weather these days isn't very stable....one day it's raining and it's +5C, the very next morning it is -10C = ice all over the place, including motorways.
Of course after all this malarky with tires the only thing that really does matter is the component between the seat and the steering wheel. It is remarkable actually how badly people, even here what is supposed to be Scandinavia, handle winter driving. I myself actually enjoy when it is snow and ice (IF the weather is clear and visibility is good). And I am REALLY amazed at how badly people outside Scandinavia handle winter driving......you get an inch of snow during the night = state of national emergency. Everything grounds to a halt, noone knows what to do, panic starts to spread......
You need to do two things:
1) Acknowledge that it might actually be slippery: you MUST realise the roads don't have as much grip as they do when it's summer and the sun is shining. That way you immediately start to think about driving in another way
2) Drive as if the road surface is a sheet of ice and doesn't have grip at all. This is important especially when you are not the most confident nor skilled driver to come out of the driving school. You may be slow and irritate the merchant banker in his blacked out Mercedes S-class, but at least you'll get there eventually. Instead of sitting upside down in a ditch calling your bank why you can't make it to work this morning.
3) This is a secret option: IF you know how to handle a car and are capable of driving when it's snowy and cold:
Go nuts !! (NOT among other drivers!)
Oh....I almost forgot the best part. I absolutely love these guys with their SUVs (even if they are proper, 4WD off-road capable things, like Range Rover or Merc G-class). These guys are the first ones to ramble on about "Oh but I don't need studded tires, I have ma great kickass SUV (and then they tell me they actually drive a BMW X3)!! I am unstoppable, I can do whatever I want and snow doesnt make anything different for me!!"
Well listen here dipshit...I don't care how much your 2 tonne monster truck can plow through snow, it still takes a friggin footballfield to stop when it's icey !! I so enjoy their reactions..."Oooh....but.....whatabout....but it's 4WD and.....well......" and then their heads explode from the sheer amount of confusion going through their tiny little brain. Not the first time I've seen a big SUV in a ditch....just three weeks ago there was a 1990's Mitsubishi Pajero, a very good off-roader, on it's roof. It had gone out on a motorway, 100km/h speedlimit (60mph), very long and swooping bend in the road, not at all tight and completely level. The dude had summer tires on his truck..... Darwin awards anyone ?
I seriously don't see what all the fuzz is about when it is snowing....here you get every truck spreading that god damn salt everywhere the moment they get a hint it might be snowing. Salt.....man I hate that stuff.
Snow chains......for fucks sake....