I saw a short video on Facebook, in which a rally car raced through a section of street rather quickly, basically "blink and you'll miss it", with a caption that seemed critical of the speed they were going and then a comment ranting about how rallies shut down entire countries or whole regions and nobody can go to work or anything. Evidently rally isn't fully understood by a lot of people, and I get that. It's not all over television like some other forms of motorsport, and it doesn't work the same way. I addressed the video clip and comment by trying to clear up some misunderstanding and correct some misinformation, but I'll touch on them further here.
They do not shut down entire countries, or regions, and people definitely can go to work, school, the store, or home. Rally races aren't typically done on highways or major streets. Instead they favor remote back roads, typically places in rough and poor condition, twisty, and sparsely traveled. When they do run stages in more urban areas, they tend to temporarily take over a limited section, not the entire town, and at least in my experience this is rare. When they do close off a road, it's temporary, not a prolonged ordeal.
Unlike races more people are familiar with that are held on closed circuits, usually purpose-built specifically as a race track, rallies consist of multiple stages held along different stretches of different roadways, typically rural and lightly traveled. They're usually the sorts of roads few people would voluntarily drive along. Drivers don't compete head-to-head but rather drivers are timed and their total times are added up across all the stages, and drivers are scored from fastest to slowest total time. They can also have a Power Stage that earns drivers additional points based solely on their performance just on that single stage.
As for the speed, these guys aren't out going for a drive. They're racing. They're all pushing themselves and their cars to their limits, trying for the fastest times. It is indeed dangerous, more so than other forms of motorsport. At a typical race track there are run-off areas, fencing, and barriers for safety. Rally drivers can end up wrapped around a tree, splattered across a big rock, or tumbling down a cliff. Spectators are normally restricted to specific designated viewing areas, and do so at their own risk. This is unfortunately part of the sport and everyone that participates, whether in the car or along a hillside watching, accept this risk.