The survey from road safety charity Brake and Digby Brown solicitors also found that four in 10 (37%) have had a near-miss on country roads, while driving, walking or cycling.

Per mile travelled, country roads are the most dangerous for all types of road user, with car occupants almost twice as likely to be killed on a country road than an urban road, motorcyclists more than twice as likely, and cyclists more than three times as likely. In 2013, 895 people were killed on non-built up roads, up 1% on 2012, and 6,554 seriously injured.

Brake and Digby Brown's survey of 1,000 UK drivers also found:

• One in five (19%) admit breaking speed limits on country roads in the past year
• Three in 20 (15%) admit taking corners or brows too fast
• One in 20 (5%) admit overtaking when it isn't safe

Three in 10 (28%) have been a passenger with a driver who broke the limit, one in five (19%) with a driver who took corners or brows too fast, and one in 12 (8%) with a driver who overtook when it wasn't safe.

Four in five (80%) think traffic is too fast for safety on some or most rural roads. Full results below.

In response, Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, said: ‘Country roads are not empty thoroughfares for traffic; they are living environments, full of unpredictable hazards around every twist and turn. We are urging drivers to slow right down on country roads this summer, especially for villages, bends, brows and bad weather, to respect the countryside and other people's right to enjoy it.’