Title 56, Motor Vehicles

Incorporated cities and municipalities may by ordinance permit the operation within their respective jurisdictions of any motor bus or trolley coach with a maximum outside width of not to exceed one hundred and two inches. But in the case of state highways within incorporated cit…

No passenger vehicle shall be operated on any highway with any load carried thereon extending beyond the line of the fenders on the left side of such vehicle nor extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side of such vehicle.

Notwithstanding any provision of this article, relating to the issuance of permits for the movement of oversized loads or vehicles on the highways of this State or exemptions from permit requirements provided for oversized loads or vehicles, no vehicle or load shall be moved with…

(A)(1) No vehicle, unladen or with load, may exceed a height of thirteen feet six inches except that the height of an automobile transporter unit or a heavy truck transporting one or more other heavy trucks in a saddle mount combination may not exceed fourteen feet. Automobile tr…

(A) Two or three unit vehicle combinations may be operated on the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, on those qualifying federal-aid highways so designated by the United States Secretary of Transportation, and on other highways as designated by the Department of …

The operator of a vehicle utilizing a fifth wheel assembly may tow one additional trailing vehicle, provided that: (1) the operator has been issued a classified driver's license by the department; (2) the operation is for private, recreational purposes only; (3) the combined leng…

The Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation may promulgate regulations as necessary to implement the provisions of this article. Regulations may be promulgated to make designations as are necessary to provide for those vehicles which operate on the Nation…

Subject to the foregoing provisions of this article limiting the length of vehicles and loads, the load upon any vehicle operated alone or the load upon the front vehicle of a combination of vehicles shall not extend more than three feet beyond the foremost part of the vehicle an…

(A) The limitations regarding length of vehicles and loads stated in Sections 56-5-4070 and 56-5-4080 do not apply to a load upon a pole trailer, longwood trailer, or self-propelled pole carrier when transporting poles or logs. (B) During daylight hours only, the limitations rega…

An official of the Department of Transportation designated by the secretary, in his discretion, upon application in writing and good cause being shown, may issue to a vehicle a permit in writing authorizing the applicant to operate or move upon the state's public highways a motor…

(A) No vehicle may be driven or moved on any public highway unless the vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping from the vehicle, except that sand, salt, or other chemicals may be dropped for the purp…

When one vehicle is towing another vehicle, the drawbar or other connection shall be of sufficient strength to pull all weight towed thereby and such drawbar or other connection shall not exceed fifteen feet from one vehicle to the other except the connection between any two vehi…

(A)(1) The gross weight upon any wheel of a vehicle shall not exceed eight thousand pounds when equipped with high-pressure pneumatic, solid rubber or cushion tires, nor ten thousand pounds when equipped with low-pressure pneumatic tires. The gross weight upon any one axle of a v…

(A)(1) The gross weight of a vehicle or combination of vehicles, operated or moved upon any section of highway, including the interstate highway system, except where the formula in item (4) allows for a higher weight, shall not exceed: (The following weight limits do not include …

(a) The weights stated in Sections 56-5-4070, 56-5-4075 and 56-5-4140 are applicable to all roads and bridges as designated except the Grace Memorial Bridge in Charleston County on which trucks of no greater weight than ten tons are allowed. (b) The Grace Memorial Bridge (U.S. Ro…

(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles upon registering a vehicle, under the laws of this State, which is designed and used primarily for the transportation of property or for the transportation of ten or more persons, may require information and may make investigation or tests nec…

(A) An officer or agent of the Department of Public Safety having reason to believe that the weight of a vehicle and load is unlawful may require the driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the vehicle and load either by means of portable or stationary scales and may require t…

(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."

Section effective July 1, 2027. See, also, section 56-5-4210 effective until July 1, 2027. (A) 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 juri…

Section effective July 1, 2027. See, also, section 56-5-4220 effective until July 1, 2027. 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 autho…

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…