Wyoming Highway Patrol’s Connection to Sturgis

The Wyoming Highway Patrol has assembled a summary of the efforts involved in the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Here is their report.

Troopers working Sturgis overflow traffic into Wyoming are crediting pre-planned efforts by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) in keeping traffic safe during the 2015 rally.

Lt. Jason Green, WHP Special Services Squad Co-Commander, stated "We had more traffic going into Hulett (WY) on Wednesday (Aug. 5th) then I have seen in 15 years working the rally". Lt. Green credited WYDOT for placing temporary traffic signals at three key intersections in Crook County as well as establishing a traffic queue into Hulett's "Ham & Jam" festivities on Wednesday. Lt. Green commented that "All of the signage and traffic signals helped with the traffic flow lessening the chances of a crash".

Two of the helpful temporary traffic signals were placed at Devil's Tower Junction and the intersection of US Highway 14 and WY Highway 24. In years past, troopers would find themselves directing traffic at those locations to keep it moving safely.

Additional WHP Troopers sent to Northeast Wyoming July 29th through August 10th stopped 1090 vehicles (704 passenger cars, 386 motorcycles). The additional troopers in the area issued 685 citations and 633 warnings while contacting 1463 individuals. 145 motorists were assisted with a wide variety of needs from directions to disabled vehicles. During Wednesday's "Ham & Jam", troopers were successful in helping escort an ambulance with a motorcyclist having cardiac issues to a waiting helicopter ambulance in Hulett.

Arrests from the event showed ten misdemeanor drug arrests, four warrant arrests and four other miscellaneous arrests. Surprisingly, only two impaired driving arrests were recorded.

Only 17 crashes were investigated in the time period involving 10 motorcycle crashes and seven passenger vehicle crashes. Three of those crashes were listed as serious injury with zero fatalities.

Fatal crashes in Wyoming headed to Sturgis and during the rally were non-existent. As traffic was departing home at the end of the rally, four fatalities were investigated in three separate crashes involving motorcycles in Wyoming on Friday, August 7th. These fatal crashes were not recorded in the additional troopers statistics as these crashes all occurred outside of Crook and Weston Counties where the additional troopers were primarily working for the rally detail.