This comment is especially for cigroller and kengreen: sure big trucks have multiple mirrors, right and left oblong main mirrors and right and left “fish-eye” mirrors for checking blind spots. That being said, large trucks still have VERY LARGE blind spots, and it is really not smart to ride next to the right side of an 18-wheeler’s cab because that is one of the blind spots; I drove a big rig for many years and I know what I’m talking about. Next time you get a chance, check out a famous D.O.T. poster that shows the “No Zones” around a big rig; that poster is sometimes posted in rest areas, and some large trucks have it in large scale decorating their trailers. I think you’ll find that poster to be very informative.
I saw this en-masse a few years ago, not the actual cars sliding in but the aftermath. I get on the highway to find it was quite icy (odd since the side streets were not) -- and there's literally 75 SUVs (only 1 car) in the ditch over like a 1 or 2 mile stretch.
First problem people here have is thinking 4-wheel drive = all wheel drive, when they have the system that solidly locks all 4 wheels together. Of course 4WD actually pushes cars out of control on icy surfaces, it's for use offroading and in deep snow. And neither one is going to do miracles.
Second they forget about brakes -- that is, they still have to be able to slow down and stop, and having some 4WD or AWD won't help that. They won't help with directional control either, and some stability control system cannot break the laws of physics either.
Third -- once I got on the highway, I ended up getting in the left lane with the semis. The left lane vehicles were spaced 100s and 100s of feet apart. The right lane cars and SUVs were going probably at least 15MPH slower, but BUMPER-TO-BUMPER.