Just out of curiosity, do they apply sand/small gravel where you are when it is icy or snowy like they do around here?

I ask because what I experience is that, when it gets wet, the grit can get stuck to my rim brakes. Then, when I apply the brake, it embeds small particles in the brake and undermines the braking effectiveness and also wears away at the rim.

I am currently planning to get a new bike and to have disk brakes for it to try to circumvent this issue.

Your circumstances may be different than mine, even if they do a similar road treatment, if you have a way to avoid the roads. Or, maybe you just live with it? More than half of my commute is on the shoulder of a state highway, where the stuff gets thrown by the vehicle traffic, so there is no avoiding the sandy, gritty mess.