Taking a nice drive on the back roads of West Virginia and Ohio is something many people like to do, and may not think they're in any immediate danger.

"Roads can definitely be dangerous out in rural areas. Sometimes the maintenance is not there like it should be, and the gravel roads are a lot slicker that the pavement roads in the area, " said Sgt. Jason Norman with the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Last year 56 percent of the United States traffic deaths happened on rural roads, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Rural traffic fatalities have declined in recent years, experts says it's due to more drivers cutting down on their travel time because of gas prices and the recession.

"Obviously the response time in the city of Marietta is a lot faster than say outside of Newport somewhere or New Matamoras or out in the county where the response time is greater, "said Norman.

J. K. Hamric with the Wood County Sheriff's Office said that response time varies from several minutes to a half an hour or longer sometimes.

So far this year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports seat belt use is up to 84 percent and highway deaths have decreased by 7 percent.