Title 56, Motor Vehicles

(A) For purposes of enforcing this section, "vehicle" means intermodal trailer, chassis, or container. (B) A tender shall not tender or interchange a vehicle for use on any highway which is in violation of the requirements contained in the United States Department of Transportati…

Open-end permits issued pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 3, Title 57 shall authorize the movement of a mobile home on the highways of this State on a Saturday.

Every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of vehicular and traffic laws is a "police officer."

Anything in this article to the contrary notwithstanding, the Department of Transportation with respect to state highways and local authorities with respect to highways under their jurisdiction may prescribe, by notice as herein provided, loads and weights and speed limits lower …

No limitation shall be established by any county, municipal or other local authority pursuant to the provisions of Section 56-5-4210 that would interfere with or interrupt traffic as authorized hereunder over state highways, including officially established detours for such highw…

Any person driving or moving any vehicle, object or contrivance upon any highway or highway structure shall be liable for all damages which such highway or structure may sustain as a result of any illegal operation, driving or moving of such vehicles, objects or contrivances or w…

(A) Except as otherwise provided by law or through regulations promulgated by the Department of Public Safety, a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) and its driver operating in intrastate commerce with a gross vehicle weight (GVW), gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), gross combination…

The entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel is a "street" or "highway."

Every highway or portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given preferential right-of-way, and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on such through highway in obedience to a stop sign,…

It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or move or for the owner to cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved on any highway any vehicle or combination of vehicles which is in such an unsafe condition as to endanger any person or property or which does not contain thos…

The provisions of this article with respect to equipment on vehicles shall not apply to implements of husbandry, road machinery or farm tractors except as herein made applicable. Every farm tractor equipped with an electric-lighting system shall at all times mentioned in Section …

Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to prohibit the use of additional parts and accessories of any vehicle which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this article.

A motor vehicle which performs business in a residential or abundant housing area and makes frequent or unscheduled stops for the purpose of vendor sales of frozen dairy products or other types of snack foods must be equipped with the following safety features: (1) an audible ala…

(A) As used in this section, "image display device" means equipment capable of displaying to the driver of a motor vehicle: (1) a broadcast television image; or (2) a visual image, other than text, from a digital video disc or other storage device. (B) Except as provided in subse…

(A) It shall be unlawful for any person to drive a passenger motor vehicle on the highways of this State which has been elevated or lowered, yet still leveled, more than six inches by a modification, alteration, or change in the physical structure of the vehicle. Any person viola…

(A) Every vehicle upon a street or highway within this State shall display lighted lamps and illuminating devices, excluding parking lights, from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, and at any other time when windshield wipers are in use as a result of rain, s…

(1) Any person who operates a motorcycle or motor-driven cycle on public streets or highways shall, while so engaged, have the headlights of such motorcycle or motor-driven cycle turned on except for those vehicles exempted by Section 56-5-4470. (2) Any person violating the provi…

Vehicles which are not kept for use or used at any time when lighted lamps are required by Section 56-5-4450 need not be equipped with the lighting equipment otherwise required in this article for use at such times and it shall be unlawful for any person to drive or move any such…

Whenever a requirement is herein declared as to the distance from which certain lamps and devices shall render objects visible or within which such lamps or devices shall render objects visible, such provisions shall apply during the times stated in Section 56-5-4450 in respect t…

Every motor vehicle other than a motorcycle or motor-driven cycle shall be equipped with at least two head lamps with at least one on each side of the front of the motor vehicle. Such head lamps shall comply with the requirements and limitations set forth in this article. Every m…

Every way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner but not by other persons is a "private road" or "driveway."

Every head lamp upon every motor vehicle, including every motorcycle and motor-driven cycle, shall be located at a height measured from the center of the head lamp of not more than fifty-four inches nor less than twenty-four inches to be measured as set forth in Section 56-5-4480…

Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer and pole trailer and any other vehicle which is being drawn at the end of a train of vehicles shall be equipped with at least one tail lamp mounted on the rear which, when lighted as herein required, shall emit a red light plainly visible…

Every tail lamp upon every vehicle shall be located at a height of not more than sixty inches nor less than twenty inches to be measured as set forth in Section 56-5-4480.

Either a tail lamp or a separate lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear registration plate and render it clearly legible from a distance of fifty feet to the rear. Any tail lamp or tail lamps, together with any separate lamp for illum…

Every new motor vehicle sold after June 7, 1949 and operated upon a highway, other than a truck tractor, motorcycle and motor-driven cycle, shall carry on the rear, either as a part of the tail lamps or separately, two red reflectors meeting the requirements of this article, and …

Every such reflector shall be mounted on the vehicle at a height not less than twenty inches nor more than sixty inches measured as set forth in Section 56-5-4480 and shall be of such size and characteristics and so mounted as to be visible at night from all distances within thre…

From and after July 1, 1949 it shall be unlawful for any person to sell any new motor vehicle, including any motorcycle or motor-driven cycle, in this State or for any person to drive such vehicle on the highways unless it is equipped with a stop lamp meeting the requirements of …

Those sections of this chapter which follow immediately, including Sections 56-5-4580 to 56-5-4620, relating to clearance and marker lamps, reflectors and stop lights shall apply as stated in such sections to vehicles of the type therein enumerated, namely passenger buses, trucks…

In addition to other equipment required in this article, the vehicles listed below must be equipped as provided in this section when operated under the conditions stated in Section 56-5-4570: (1) On every bus or truck, whatever its size, on the rear, two reflectors, one on each s…

Front clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the front or on the side near the front of a vehicle shall display or reflect an amber color. Rear clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the rear or on the sides near the rear of a v…

A "roadway" is that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the shoulder or berm. In the event a highway includes two or more separate roadways, the term "roadway" as used in this chapter shall refer to any such roadway separa…

Reflectors, when required pursuant to Section 56-5-4580, shall be mounted at a height not less than twenty-four inches and not higher than sixty inches above the ground on which the vehicle stands, except that if the highest part of the permanent structure of the vehicle is less …

Every reflector upon any vehicle referred to in Section 56-5-4580 shall be of such size and characteristics and so maintained as to be readily visible at nighttime from all distances within five hundred to fifty feet from the vehicle when directly in front of lawful upper beams o…

Whenever motor and other vehicles are operated in combination during the time that lights are required, any lamp, except tail lamps, need not be lighted which, by reason of its location on a vehicle of the combination, would be obscured by another vehicle of the combination, but …

(A) Whenever the load upon a vehicle extends to the rear four feet or more beyond the bed or body of the vehicle, the vehicle must be equipped with, at the times specified in Section 56-5-4450, the following safety equipment: (1) for any commercial motor vehicle as defined in thi…

Whenever a vehicle is lawfully parked upon a street or highway during the hours between a half hour after sunset and a half hour before sunrise and in the event there is sufficient light to reveal any person or object within a distance of five hundred feet upon such street or hig…

All vehicles, including animal-drawn vehicles and implements of husbandry, road machinery or farm tractors and other vehicles not otherwise specifically required to be equipped with lamps, shall at the times specified in Section 56-5-4450 be equipped with at least one lighted lam…

Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed one spot lamp, and every lighted spot lamp shall be so aimed and used upon approaching another vehicle that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam will be directed to the left of the prolongation of the extreme left …

Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed two fog lamps mounted on the front at a height of not less than twelve inches nor more than thirty inches above the level surface upon which the vehicle stands and so aimed that, when the vehicle is not loaded, none of the high…

Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed one auxiliary passing lamp mounted on the front at a height not less than twenty-four inches nor more than forty-two inches above the level surface upon which the vehicle stands, and every such auxiliary passing lamp shall meet…

Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed one auxiliary driving lamp mounted on the front at a height not less than sixteen inches nor more than forty-two inches above the level surface upon which the vehicle stands, and every such auxiliary driving lamp shall meet the…

A "laned roadway" is a roadway which is divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic.

(A) Every authorized emergency vehicle shall, in addition to any other equipment and distinctive markings required by this chapter, be equipped with a siren, exhaust whistle, or bell capable of giving an audible signal. (B) Every school bus and every authorized emergency vehicle,…

Wreckers may use a mounted oscillating, rotating or flashing red light only at the scene of accidents.

Notwithstanding Section 56-5-4700, emergency and fire fighting vehicles of the South Carolina Forestry Commission may but not need be equipped with oscillating, rotating, or flashing red lights for use during any fire emergency. If a red light is used, it must be visible for a di…