I live in a rural area on a two-lane 45 mph road. If you actually go 45 mph in a car, you will be passed and honked at more often than not. To my knowledge, three people have been struck and killed by vehicles while getting their mail in the past five years. I don't ride my bike on this road because it terrifies me. The guys at the LBS even recommended that I never ride on this road.
Across the street is a K-12 school complex with sidewalks, 25 mph speed limits and lots of parking lots. When bus, parent and student traffic aren't going, I ride here. I can take this complex to a gravel road that connects to a park with miles of dirt trails. There's another park less than a mile further down the same gravel road with more dirt trails.
Basically, I ride my "hybrid" bike where and when I have the least interaction with car traffic.