The 68th Annual Sturgis Black Hills Motorcycle Rally officially came to a close Sunday night. Three people lost their lives in crashes during rally week, compared to five last year. This is from the official Rally toll, which only runs from Monday, Aug. 4, to Sunday, Aug. 10. The total number of world-wide bikers, who may have lost their lives in crashes, either on their journey to the rally or on their way home would be impossible to track, but would be an interesting statistic.
Other Statistics; Total drunken driving and drug arrests in the Black Hills were down slightly from last year.
Officers made 479 arrests during rally week, compared to 510 last year. The total number of tickets written for all violations was 1,619 – an increase of 38 percent from 2007. They had to make up for the loss in rally revenue some how.
As of Friday - Official Rally fatalities, which only runs from Monday, Aug. 4, to Sunday, Aug. 10, stands at one motorcycle accident resulting in a death. At this time last year, there were three accidents resulting in a total of three fatalities. Hopefully everyone makes it out of town, and back home safely.
Injury Accidents Down - There have been 42 accidents reported through Wednesday compared to 46 a year ago.Twenty-five of those accidents were reported in the Sturgis area. Ten others occurred in the Southern Hills along with six in Rapid City and one in the Badlands.
Meade County - The Meade County Sherriff has reported injury accidents are down significantly, with 24 to date compared to 35 last year. His department’s warnings and citations numbers have held pretty consistently with last year. The department has issued 207 warnings this year compared to 172 in 2007. Total citation numbers are 127 this year, up 14 from a year ago. Total arrest numbers are 290 in 2008 compared to 306 last year.
