Rich 93 cw I hope it is true that "Avance trac/RSC" will help to save lives more than any body, but some times I wonder where the line is drawn between the driver and the car or truck.
At some point the car can't save you. Sort of like air bags. I am all for them, but then again I think it causes some people to think that there is there is no danger in driving.
Driving a car or truck has more hazzard than any thing else a person does in a 24 hour day unless you have a job with the bomb squad or the like.

Some where I seen in a newspaper that we would all be better drivers if automakers were required to have a big sharp spike sticking out in the center of the steering wheel. I agree.

Above I talk about driving my old 73 T Bird (the tank) with posi trac 12 years through some of the worst mountain snows you could think of and never got stuck once.
However I was always amazed how many cars and trucks I would drive past that were stuck in a ditch, wrecked, even upside down. Even more amazing was that about 75% of these were 4X4s.

How is it I am driving my 73 T Bird two wheel drive in a snow storm past a upside down new 4X4 Chevy Blazer? I would like to think it has something to do with the driver of the T Bird and not just luck alone.

I guess what I am saying is I would rather take my chances with a positrac and some good (hope) driving than a government mandated computer controlled traction control.

Also after driving through 30 years of Colorado snows as odd as it seems I agree with moonunit7317 that in heavy snows some wheel slip is a good thing to have.
If on ice or light snow, lots of traction is a good thing, with studded snow tires even better.

However in very heavy snows a lot of traction with out some wheel slippage can get you stuck if it won't let you keep the engine RPM up. This is why chains on a underpowered truck or car can get you stuck in heavy snow. Too much traction.

This is where the 73 T Bird (the tank) would really shine as although it was only 2 wheel drive with posi track it had a big 460 V8 that had the power to plow through heavy snows even with chains on while going up grade like a real trooper.

The ability to keep moving is important and if that means some wheel slippage to do so then it helps by keeping the engine in its power band even with low range. If the engine over speeds a little at times during wheel slippage it will come back down when traction is regained so it is ok because you are still moving foward.

If some "computer" device sees the engine RPM up with some wheel spin (now your speedometer is way up there over 25) and cuts your engine RPM back plus starts messing around with the brakes with the idea of regaining traction while in heavy snow, your are going to be stuck.
I would bet on it.