Title 56, Motor Vehicles

The Department of Transportation may adopt a manual of standards and specifications for a uniform system of traffic-control devices, consistent with the provisions of this chapter, for use upon highways and streets within this State.

The Department of Transportation may place and maintain such traffic-control devices, conforming to its manual and specifications, upon all state highways as it shall deem necessary to indicate and to carry out the provisions of this chapter or to regulate, warn or guide traffic.…

The United States Department of Energy is authorized to place and maintain traffic control devices upon roads within the confines of the lands in Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties acquired or to be acquired by the United States Government. The Department of Energy is not re…

Subject to the limitations prescribed in Section 56-5-930, local authorities in their respective jurisdictions shall place and maintain such traffic-control devices upon highways under their jurisdiction as they may deem necessary to indicate and to carry out the provisions of th…

(a) The driver of any vehicle shall obey the instructions of any official traffic-control device, applicable thereto placed or held in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, unless otherwise directed by a police officer, subject to the exceptions granted the driver of an…

Whenever traffic is controlled by traffic-control signals exhibiting different colored lights or colored lighted arrows, successively one at a time or in combination, only the colors, green, red, and yellow, shall be used except for special pedestrian signals carrying a word lege…

Whenever special pedestrian control signals exhibiting the words "Walk" or "Wait" are in place such signals shall indicate as follows: (1) "Walk" indicates that a pedestrian facing such signal may proceed across the roadway in the direction of the signal and shall be given the ri…

(A) There will be a uniform traffic ticket used by all law enforcement officers in arrests for traffic offenses and for the following additional offenses: (1) Interfering with Police Officer Serving Process Section 16-5-50; (2) Dumping Trash on Highway/Private Property Section 16…

(A) When the operator or owner of an individual private passenger automobile as defined in Section 38-77-30(5.5) is issued a traffic ticket for a moving violation by a law enforcement officer, he may be furnished a written request form to be completed by him and his insurance com…

(A) The uniform traffic ticket, established pursuant to the provisions of Section 56-7-10, may be used by law enforcement officers to arrest a person for an offense that has been freshly committed or is committed in the presence of a law enforcement officer if the punishment is w…

Each ticket shall have a unique identifying number. Each printed copy must be labeled at the bottom with the purpose of the copy. A handwritten traffic ticket must consist of four copies, one of which must be blue and must be given to the vehicle operator who is the alleged traff…

(A) The Department of Public Safety shall have the traffic tickets printed. Law enforcement agencies shall order tickets from the Department of Public Safety and shall record the identifying numbers of the tickets received by them. The cost of the tickets must be paid by the law …

(A)(1) A law enforcement officer who issues a uniform traffic ticket for a violation of a local ordinance or traffic laws relating to speeding must do so incident to and contemporaneous with a traffic stop. (2) A copy of the citation must be given directly to the offender by the …

Any person intentionally violating the provisions of Section 56-7-10 or 56-7-30 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than fifteen hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than six months, o…

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources or to any of its agents.

When a law enforcement officer stops a driver for a violation of the motor vehicle laws, he shall present his law enforcement badge or other appropriate identification to the driver immediately upon approaching him and before questioning.

(A) Counties and municipalities are authorized to adopt by ordinance and use an ordinance summons as provided herein for the enforcement of county and municipal ordinances. Upon adoption of the ordinance summons, any county or municipal law enforcement officer or code enforcement…

This chapter may be cited as the "Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Act".

This chapter shall in no respect be considered as a repeal of any other provision contained in this Title or the motor vehicle laws of this State but shall be construed as supplemental and cumulative thereto.

This chapter shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the laws of those states which enact substantially identical legislation.

The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall, for the purposes of this chapter have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, except in those instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning: (1) "Insured motor vehicle": A mot…

This chapter does not apply with respect to any motor vehicle owned by the United States, this State, or any political subdivision of this State or any municipality therein, nor, except for Section 56-9-590, does it apply with respect to any motor vehicle which is subject to othe…

(1) The Department of Motor Vehicles, upon request and the payment of a fee, shall furnish any person a certified abstract of the operating record of any person subject to the provisions of this chapter, which abstract must also fully designate the motor vehicles, if any, registe…

Any person (a) whose license and registration has been suspended as provided in this chapter, (b) whose policy of insurance or bond, when required under this chapter, has been canceled or terminated, or (c) who has neglected to furnish other proof upon request of the Department o…

The operator or owner of a motor vehicle involved in an accident resulting in property damage of four hundred dollars or more, or in bodily injury or death, must be furnished a written request form at the time of the accident, or as soon after the accident as possible, by the inv…

Within sixty days of receipt of a report of a motor vehicle accident within this State which has resulted in bodily injury or death or damage to the property of any one person in the amount of two hundred dollars or more, the Department of Motor Vehicles shall suspend the license…

Section 56-9-351 shall not apply to any of the following: (1) The operator or owner if the owner had in effect at the time of the accident an automobile liability policy with respect to the motor vehicle involved in the accident; (2) The operator, if not the owner of the motor ve…

No policy or bond shall be effective under Sections 56-9-351 and 56-9-352 unless issued by an insurance company or surety company licensed and authorized by the South Carolina Department of Insurance to do business in this State, except that if the motor vehicle was not registere…

The license and registration and nonresident's operating privilege suspended as provided in Section 56-9-351 shall, except as otherwise provided for in Section 56-9-361, remain suspended and shall not be renewed nor shall any license or registration be issued to him until: (1) He…

In the event the driver or the owner of a vehicle of a type subject to registration under the laws of this State, involved in an accident within this State, has no license or registration in this State, such driver shall not be allowed a license nor shall such owner be allowed to…

When a nonresident's operating privilege is suspended pursuant to Section 56-9-351 or 56-9-354, the Department of Motor Vehicles shall transmit a certified copy of the record of such action to the official in charge of the issuance of licenses and registration certificates in the…

Upon receipt of such certification that the operating privilege of a resident of this State has been suspended or revoked in any such other state pursuant to a law providing for its suspension or revocation for failure to deposit security for the payment of judgments arising out …

The security required under this article shall be in the form and in the amount that the Department of Motor Vehicles may require but in no case in excess of the limits specified in Section 56-9-353 in reference to the acceptable limits of a policy or bond. The person depositing …

The Department of Motor Vehicles may at any time reduce the amount of security ordered in any case if, in its judgment, the amount ordered is excessive. In case the security originally ordered has been deposited, the excess deposited over the reduced amount ordered shall be retur…

Security deposited in compliance with the requirements of this article shall be placed by the Department of Motor Vehicles in the custody of the State Treasurer and shall be applicable only to the payment of judgments rendered against the persons on whose behalf the deposit was m…

Whenever any person whose license would otherwise have been suspended for failure to deposit security required pursuant to this article is, or later becomes, an operator in the employ of another owner, the Department of Motor Vehicles may in its discretion, notwithstanding any pr…

Neither the action taken by the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to this article, the findings, if any, of the Department upon which action is based nor the security filed as provided in this article shall be referred to in any way or be any evidence of the negligence of due…

The Department of Motor Vehicles may in the administration of this article prescribe such form as it may deem necessary and require individuals to file sworn affidavits substantiating any claims for damages should the need arise. Any person whose driving privilege becomes subject…

This chapter shall not affect the rights of any conditional vendor, chattel mortgagee, or lessor of a motor vehicle registered in the name of another as owner who becomes subject to the provisions of this chapter.

Whenever any person fails within sixty days to satisfy any judgment, it shall be the duty of the clerk of court, or of the judge of a court which has no clerk, in which any judgment is rendered within this State to forward to the Department of Motor Vehicles immediately after the…

If the defendant named in any certified copy of a judgment reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles is a nonresident, the Department shall transmit a certified copy of the judgment to the official in charge of the issuance of licenses and registration certificates of the stat…

(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles upon receipt of a certified copy of judgment shall suspend the license and registration and any nonresident's operating privilege of any person against whom the judgment was rendered, except as otherwise provided in Sections 56-9-440 to 56-9-4…

If the judgment creditor consents in writing, in the form which the Department of Motor Vehicles may prescribe, that the judgment debtor be allowed license and registration or nonresident's operating privilege, this may be allowed by the Department for six months from the date of…

Any person whose license, registration or nonresident's operating privilege has been suspended or is about to be suspended or shall become subject to suspension under the provisions of this article may be relieved from the effect of the judgment as prescribed in this article by f…

Whenever any person whose license would otherwise have been suspended for failure to satisfy a judgment as provided in Section 56-9-430 is, or later becomes, an operator in the employ of another owner, the Department of Motor Vehicles may in its discretion, notwithstanding any pr…

The license, registration and nonresident's operating privilege shall, except as otherwise provided in Section 56-9-460, remain suspended and shall not be renewed nor shall any license or registration be thereafter issued in the name of that person, including that person if not p…