But they're not over here because you don't actually NEED them. Whatever did we do in years gone by when there were no such thing as winter tyres, and tyres (and cars, for that matter) were in general much worse? Oh yeah, we drove to the conditions and survived.
You'll be telling me that we NEED all these stability and traction control devices in cars simply because the law says we have to have them next.
I think the point he was making is that winter tyres are proven to make a big difference to cars- many people still believe they are a con and don't make any difference at all