I don't have to worry about icy roads where I'm from but the roads do get slippery if there's a light shower of rain after a long dry spell, just enough to lift the oil and grease off the road but not enough to wash it away. I remember coming home from work one afternoon in such conditions not long after getting my licence and finding myself going sideways around a roundabout and heading directly towards an oncoming BMW. I managed to regain control but my heart was pumping afterwards. IMO, experience is the most important tool for regaining control in those circumstances. You should be able to adapt your driving style for the conditions and know the limits of your car so that you can judge when you are exceeding them.
In my family, we have two RWD cars and two FWD cars. My parents' cars have the electronic gizmos, mine don't. I think features such as traction control and stability control are useful driver aids but for most driving situations they shouldn't be necessary if the driver remains within the limits of the car and their driving ability. Some situations, such as black ice, are difficult to judge and it's here that they could prove to be life saving.
I think that, dynamically, FWD cars are better suited to inexperienced drivers and that understeer is a potentially less dangerous situation than oversteer. In the case of FWD understeer, the natural reaction to lift off the accelerator is usually all it takes to regain grip, whereas in an oversteering RWD vehicle, this could contribute further to oversteer.