(A) A person who is at least fifteen years of age may apply to the department for a beginner's permit. After the applicant has passed successfully all parts of the examination other than the driving test, the department may issue to the applicant a beginner's permit. A beginner's permit entitles the permittee having the permit in his immediate possession to drive a motor vehicle on public highways under the conditions contained in this section for not more than twelve months.

(B) The permit is valid only in the operation of:

(1) vehicles after six o'clock a.m. and not later than midnight. Except as provided in subsection (E), while driving, the permittee must be accompanied by a licensed driver twenty-one years of age or older who has had at least one year of driving experience. A permittee may not drive between midnight and six o'clock a.m. unless accompanied by any licensed individual listed in Section 56-1-100(A)(1-7);

(2) motorcycles.

While driving a motorcycle during nighttime hours, the permittee must be accompanied by a motorcycle-licensed driver twenty-one years of age or older who has had at least one year of driving experience.

(C) The accompanying driver must:

(1) occupy a seat beside the permittee when the permittee is operating a motor vehicle; or

(2) be within a safe viewing distance of the permittee when the permittee is operating a motorcycle or a moped.

(D) A beginner's permit may be renewed or a new permit issued for additional periods of twelve months. However, the department may refuse to renew or issue a new permit where the examining officer has reason to believe the applicant has not made a bona fide effort to pass the required driver's road test or does not appear to the examining officer to have the aptitude to pass the road test. The fee for every beginner's or renewal permit is two dollars and fifty cents, and the permit must bear the full name, date of birth, and residence address and a brief description and color photograph of the permittee and a facsimile of the signature of the permittee or a space upon which the permittee shall write his usual signature with pen and ink immediately upon receipt of the permit. A permit is not valid until it has been signed by the permittee.

(E) The following persons are not required to obtain a beginner's permit to operate a motor vehicle:

(1) a student at least fifteen years of age regularly enrolled in a high school of this State which conducts a driver's training course while the student is participating in the course and when accompanied by a qualified instructor of the course; and

(2) a person fifteen years of age or older enrolled in a driver training course conducted by a driver training school licensed under Chapter 23 of this title. However, this person at all times must be accompanied by an instructor of the school and may drive only an automobile owned or leased by the school which is covered by liability insurance in an amount not less than the minimum required by law.

(F) A person who has never held a form of license evidencing previous driving experience first must be issued a beginner's permit and must hold the permit for at least one hundred eighty days before being eligible for full licensure.

(G) The fees collected pursuant to this section must be credited to the Department of Transportation State Non-Federal Aid Highway Fund.

(H) A person who holds a motorcycle beginner's permit who has failed the motorcycle driver's license test three or more times must successfully complete a South Carolina technical college motorcycle safety course, or its equivalent, in lieu of passing the motorcycle driver's license test, in order to obtain a motorcycle license. All courses must be at least eight hours in length and be taught by an instructor accredited through a training program in which the procedures for accreditation are equivalent to those set forth in "Manual of Rules and Procedures" published by the National Safety Council. All courses must include successful completion of an examination equivalent to the Department of Motor Vehicles motorcycle skills test. These programs are subject to Section 56-1-15.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 46-155; 1952 Code Section 46-167; 1949 (46) 271; 1953 (48) 246; 1956 (49) 1648; 1959 (51) 421, 564; 1965 (54) 649; 1966 (54) 2424, 2661; 1967 (55) 557, 935; 1977 Act No. 19; 1980 Act No. 358, Section 1; 1992 Act No. 486, Section 4; 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, Section 121E; 1998 Act No. 258, Section 8; 2002 Act No. 181, Section 1; 2004 Act No. 280, Section 1; 2005 Act No. 176, Section 5, eff June 14, 2005; 2016 Act No. 267 (S.689), Section 1, eff June 7, 2016; 2017 Act No. 89 (H.3247), Section 3, eff November 19, 2018; 2018 Act No. 127 (S.456), Section 1, eff February 5, 2018; 2018 Act No. 259 (H.4676), Section 1, eff November 19, 2018.

Effect of Amendment

2017 Act No. 89, Section 3, amended the section, deleting the provisions that allowed a permit holder to operate a moped, revising the time of day and conditions upon which a permittee may operate a motorcycle, and deleting an obsolete provision.

2018 Act No. 127, Section 1, added (H), providing that a person who has failed the motorcycle driver's license test three or more times must successfully complete a South Carolina technical college motorcycle safety course, or its equivalent, in lieu of passing the test.

2018 Act No. 259, Section 1, in (B)(1), in the second sentence, substituted "any licensed individual listed in Section 56-1-100(A)(1-7)" for "the permittee's licensed parent or guardian; and".