Traffic is down but accidents are up at the Sturgis motorcycle rally.
Captain Jason Ketterling of the South Dakota Highway Patrol said there’s an explanation for that.
“You know when the roads are a little bit more open, people tend to drive a little bit faster I think," Ketterling said.
There have been 76 traffic accidents in western South Dakota during the rally this year. That’s 14 ahead of last year's pace. One of the accidents resulted in the only two traffic deaths of the rally so far.
Drug arrests and total citations are also ahead of last year’s pace. DUIs and warning tickets are down slightly.
Meanwhile, devices around Sturgis have counted 7 percent less traffic than last year. That’s a decrease of about 24,000 vehicles.
The rally continues through Sunday.