Originally Posted by
dhuey
Still, I don't see what is so different about winter driving in the mountains compared to winter driving in places like the Upper Midwest, where there aren't any chain requirements I'm aware of. Sierra storms often produce more snow that a typical Midwestern storm, but it's largely the same driving conditions in my experience.
Mountains is the key word.
There are no chain requirements in Michigan and Minnesota (parts of the midwest where I spent many many winters) because they're close to dead flat. And where they're not dead flat, cars pile up at the bottom of hills-- for example, when I lived in Ann Arbor at the corner of State and Hill, there was a memorable day when cars were literally sliding down the hill (which isn't much of a hill) and piling up. It happens on Mount Royal in Montreal, too, which is otherwise pretty much dead flat. Cars do slide all over the place in those places, but they don't slide off the edges of mountains or pile up at the bottom of the slopes. Mountain roads in California have edges that you can slide off of (and plenty of people do it in good weather) and can be hard to get emergency vehicles to, even if you're just stuck at a low point on the road rather than off the edge.
As far as I know, traction devices (studs and chains) are prohibited on public roads in Michigan because they tear up the roads.