Snow is irrelevant. Worst case scenario is that I can hop off my bike and carry it.

Studs are for ice. They keep you from falling when the wheel slips out sideways from beneath you.

I live in a city that gets snow for four months, and daily in January and most of February. All that practice makes it one of the best and most efficient at clearing the streets, and there's always ice somewhere that doesn’t get salted away.

Studs cost considerably less than even the deductible for an ER visit. You go down fast and hard on ice. In traffic? Well, that bus behind you also has to try to stop on the same patch of ice that threw you down. It ain't like taking a tumble in the dirt on your MTB.

Further, good studs--carbide--last almost forever on a bike. Mine are entering their tenth (that's right, 10th) winter this year with no end in sight. So my $90 expenditure is now down to $9 per year. My income is measured as a percent of the Federal Poverty Level, and even I can afford that.