Opening weekend traffic at Sturgis Rally down from recent years

The opening weekend of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally saw a slight downtick in traffic compared to previous years.

Each year during the rally, the Department of Transportation tracks vehicles entering the Black Hills region at nine different locations.

Officials counted 158,488 vehicles the first three days of the rally. That’s down 5.7% compared to the five-year average for that timeframe.

Meantime, arrests at the rally are on pace with last year.

The Highway Patrol tracks DUI and drug arrests at the rally each year. So far, this year’s numbers are closely in line with last year’s rally. Total citations and warnings issued are down roughly 29%.

The number of crashes is also down compared to 2023. So far, 22 injury and non-injury accidents have been reported, compared to 47 at this point last year.

Through Monday, the Highway Patrol said there hasn’t been any fatal crashes in the Sturgis or Rapid City areas. However, the state Department of Transportation said statewide, there have been five motorcyclist deaths in the past week.