     The 82nd annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is over, but the official attendance estimate based on South Dakota Department of Transportation traffic counts won’t be out for several days.Â
    For the first 7 days, the vehicle count totaled 400,341. That’s about 9,000 more than the 5-year average but down nearly 23,000 from last year, which ended as the second-highest attendance in 20 years. Â
The South Dakota Highway Patrol says this year’s Rally was safer than last year with 3 fatalities, compared to 4, with the number of injury accidents dropping from 62 to 50. The number of non-injury accidents also dropped from 50 to 45.
The final totals for arrests were 148 for arrests, 26 more than last year, 103 felony drug arrests, 9 fewer than a year ago, and 148 misdemeanor drug arrests, down by 3 from last year.
Altogether, troopers issued 1,430 citations, 142 fewer than in 2021, and 5,288 warnings, an increase of 969 from last year.
The Highway Patrol count does not include the first or last days, since neither covers a 24-hour period.