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Honestly, highways are much safer for cycling than a lot of main roads. They tend to have wide shoulders and long sightlines, making it easier to stay out of traffic and maintain visibility. Main roads often have limited room on the side and blind curves that can send motorists a little over the edge; add in traffic and it can be pretty nerve wracking. Even country roads can be bad, because people fly on them without regard for other traffic, let alone bicycles.
i'd endorse most of this post, but ime the rural roads around me are actually pretty friendly because it's easy to pass in the oncoming lane and people are used to passing tractors going from field to field, and honestly if you're in a hurry there are state highways and interstates to take instead. obviously not universal.
My experience in midwestern corn country is that it's a big flat grid where you can pretty much see to the horizon when the stalks aren't up, see cross traffic coming from miles away, and know that there are no cops because there's nowhere to set up a trap and not enough traffic to make it worthwhile anyway. As a result, you can basically drive as fast as your balls will let you, knowing that no one will ever make it to you in time if you manage to somehow wipe out going in a straight line. Trying to drive anywhere near the posted speed limit just means you occasionally get blown past by irritated locals.
Mind you I'm talking real Children of the Corn territory, well away from population centers. The kind of countryside where roads have reference numbers rather than names and you're eerily aware that this isn't the wilderness, but isn't really civilization either. It's fantastic, you can go fast as fuck and make better time than if you were on a freeway where traffic and construction existed.
Of course when the stalks are up, you have to keep your dick in your pants a bit, but during the winter and early spring if the pavement is dry it's basically the autobahn.
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