The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is famously about Freedom™, but all we get is more government regulation:
Riders will be cruising into Sturgis a little slower than normal, as the city adds additional stop signs to the main roads ahead of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
“So we’ve just found over the years of doing it that the four-way stop seems to work the best. And it kind of allows for each side to take a turn and go. And that seems to move the traffic the best.” Sturgis Public Works Director Rick Bush said.
Temporary traffic lights and reduced speed limits will also help slow everything down.
“We’ve got eight of those throughout the Black Hills. Most of those are around the Sturgis area. Speed limits are going to change at several locations along I-90 in between Rapid City and Sturgis. North of Sturgis on Highway 79 and then east of Sturgis on Highway 30.” SD DOT Region Operations Engineer Tom Horan said [Samantha Armstrong and Tyler Louder, “Extra Stop Signs Coming to Sturgis,” KELO-TV, 2026.07.30].
Come on! We don’t need government telling us how to drive! Surely all those thousands of easy riders could regulate themselves in a perfectly functioning anarcho-libertarian commune if we just pulled out all the stop signs and traffic laws and extra cops…
Bush says without the added stops, traffic would be more difficult to navigate.
“It enables them a safe way to get across junction, whether they’re going to work, whether they’re going to the grocery store. Otherwise, if we didn’t put those up, they literally would not be able to get out and get into the traffic,” Bush said [Armstrong and Louder, 2026.07.30].
Oh. Gee. I guess Sturgis is actually proof of the regulatory point: the larger the society, the more government and regulation we need to maintain basic social functions. The more people and vehicles you bring in, the more complicated the society, the more freedom each person has to surrender, via stop signs, speed limits, and other sensible government restrictions, to maintain some practical level of liberty for everyone.