Gas prices are plunging, and euphoric drivers have responded accordingly.

It's estimated that the average household due to a decline in prices, GasBuddy.com senior analyst Patrick DeHaan told CNBC. The dramatic plunge is expected to continue, and 2015 gas prices could be down a dollar from the 2014 average, the report added.

That might not seem like much, but for the first time in more than 5 years, it has drivers excited to hit the roads.

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Chart via GasBuddy.com

There's a downside, however, to this steady drop in gas prices: More people on the road likely means more danger and more death, experts say.

A South Dakota State study looked at the driving habits of 144 countries and found , and younger drivers are more likely to join the mix.

That alone doesn't necessarily mean there will be more fatalities or even more accidents, but the research found that, indeed, there's a very high chance of an increased fatality risk on the roadways when gas prices decline.

Guangqing Chi is the sociologist performing the SDSU study. He told NPR reporter Shankar Vedantam that in one case, a 20-cent decline in Minnesota .

"A $2 drop in gasoline price can translate to about 9,000 road fatalities per year in the U.S.," Chi said in the NPR report.

And it's not just an increase in the volume of drivers on the roads that's creating more danger. Chi also noted that people tend to drive safer when their wallet is being squeezed by higher gas prices. Drivers are more likely to accelerate slower and maintain a steady speed, he said. Those are gas-saving techniques, but they also keep roads safer because they're measures good drivers typically take.

The findings come on the heels of a holiday season in which the National Safety Council projected nearly 800 deaths and more than 84,000 injuries on American roadways. Spokesperson Kathy Lane told The Weather Channel it will take a year to confirm actual death and injury totals from the holiday season.

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