Traffic Decreases 40 Percent From 2015 at Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) — Traffic at this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was down nearly 40 percent from last year's landmark 75th anniversary event.

Data from the state Transportation Department show 508,610 vehicles attended the Aug. 3-14 event, down from 830,503 last year.

It is the lowest traffic count in 26 years of tracking Sturgis data, although the numbers from three years in the 1990s are incomplete due to faulty traffic counters, according to KOTA-TV.

"Nothing matches up to last year," vendor Deborah Youker told KEVN-TV.

Traffic-related injuries, non-injury accidents and fatalities at this year's rally all were down dramatically from a year ago, and this eased law enforcement efforts.

"When we have a down year, our officers are able to patrol better and do traffic monitoring," Sturgis Assistant Police Chief Sean Briscoe told the Rapid City Journal.

There were 1,413 citations issued during this year's rally, up 17 percent from 2015, according to the state data.

"It was a pretty good year overall for law enforcement, and all of our officers were tired by the end of the week," Briscoe said. "But they held up well."

South Dakota