Yes, they do a pretty good job of plowing and treating the roads here, but if you saw my driveway and how it is totally frozen over for about 2 months, on and off, that becomes irrelevant. We have a guy plow it, but the ice forms from the lack of sun and the constant melting and thawing every day.
AWD does help. I once drove home from work in a blizzard, before the driveway had been plowed. I went right through about 13 inches of snow, up the hill... in a sedan, not an SUV.