I have driven in ice storms in three states. I don't recommend it - if you have a viable alternative, do that instead.
That said: it's worse in areas that rarely gets such things (such as Seattle where I lived for 30+ years, Portland OR that I was driving through during one, and Dallas where the Professor is) than in areas where they are fairly common (such as Indiana where I went to college).
There are several reasons why the areas that rarely get them get it worse. Three big ones:
1) Almost nobody knows how to drive in them
2) Almost nobody - not road maintenance crews, not emergency services, not electric line crews, not city buses - has specialized equipment to deal with them. (Seattle buses typically need chains for one 24-hour period, or less, every five to eight years; guess what they usually aren't carrying when that time arrives, particularly if it starts in mid-afternoon.)
3) Ice at 31.5 degrees Fahrenheit is much slicker than ice at 0 Fahrenheit.