I understand what your saying. Most of the damn suv's around me will never be used off-road, but in the winter most beople switch to snow tire, or on my truck, I have 33x9.5" bfg MT's. Theyre not tires mainly used for offroad, theyre too narrow, the purpose of them is to dig down through snow. Driving a truck or SUV in 4wd is alot different than driving it in 2wd. thats one thing most people don't realize. Poeple who have 4wd suv's and trucks think that since they have 4wd they are invincible in the snow. Its now that you have better traction, it's that you have power to all 4 wheels when 2 of them won't get traction. Take my parents explorer for instance. He had a really bad blizzard last year, so he's driving around in the thing in 4wd low. which is ok. But most people don't know, that you should never drive faster than 25 in 4low. The main problem is nnot that therer ARE SUV's on the road, It's that many people dont know how to drive them properly. I agree with you you see the damn soccer mom's driving 80 mph weaving all over the lane on the highway, because they can't see whats around them. Driving a suv or truck in 4wd, in dangerous situations is not something I recommend to people, unless its an emergency, or they have experience. I've seen too mand accidents in the winter because of some stupid woman that thinks their blazer is invincible because it was 4 wheel drive. they don't realize that they don't have snow tires on it, and they drive like they normally would, slam on the brakes, and slide into a telephone pole.
Actually, I have an aunt that lives in chicago also, there is alot of snow there. but, the city of chicago has the trucks and people to plow the roads and get it done. It doesn't always work that way in Jersey and Pennsylvania, the 2 states I've lived in in the last 4 years. When there is a big storm here, they are NEVER prepared for it.