So this happened on my way home a few days ago and is an advert for good brand tyres especially in winter. I seen some blue lights someway behind me on the Edinburgh city bypass during rush hour (thankfully, meant the traffic was moving slowly when this happened). Glanced in my mirror to see where the lights were now and when I looked ahead again, the lexus in front had slammed on his brakes. When I noticed I braked too but thanks to the cheap rubbish front tyres, the ABS activated instantly under slight braking effectively giving me no brakes and I could do nothing but watch my front end hit his towbar. On the plus side there was absolutely no damage to his car so he's not making a claim and now my job for the weekend is to get the front end off and check what's all broken!
Long story short - don't be cheap with your front tyres and be extra careful now the weather's getting worse..