South Carolina Traffic Violations

Drivers in South Carolina who receive a ticket for a moving violation will be issued a citation on behalf of the local South Carolina county court overseeing the jurisdiction where you committed the infraction. If you have received a citation for a traffic violation, the ticket will provide you with instructions on how to pay or challenge the ticket on the front and back. Each South Carolina county sets its own rules and fees for traffic violations, and your ticket will contain a phone number to call the local South Carolina county court overseeing your traffic violation so you can find out whether you can pay the ticket online or if you must go to the local South Carolina county courthouse to pay the fine.

Alternatively, you can appear in the local South Carolina county court handling your violation at the address included on your traffic ticket. This will allow you to contest the ticket, request an opportunity to have the charges reduced or dismissed or plead guilty. When you contact the local county overseeing your traffic violation by phone, you should ask the person you speak with about the process for appearing in court and what opportunities may be available to you to help have your traffic violation charges alleviated.

South Carolina Points System and Suspension of Licenses

In addition to having a traffic violation on your South Carolina driving record, South Carolina's Department of Motor Vehicles ("DMV") also assigns points to your South Carolina driving record based on the degree of your moving violation. South Carolina's DMV provides a list of what points are assigned to each traffic violation. Examples include:

• Speeding by less than 10 mph: 2 points
• Defective tail lights: 2 points
• Improper Lane Change: 2 points
• Speeding by 10-25 mph: 4 points
• Running a Red Light: 4 points
• Failure to Yield: 4 points
• Speeding by More Than 25 mph: 6 points
• Reckless Driving: 6 points

If you incur 6 points on your South Carolina driving record, the South Carolina DMV will mail a letter to the address on your driver's license warning you of the accumulated points against your South Carolina driving record and addressing the consequences of future traffic violations, including having your South Carolina driving privileges suspended or revoked.

If your South Carolina driving record amasses 12 points, the South Carolina DMV will automatically suspend your South Carolina driving privileges for three months. If you have 16 points on your license, your South Carolina driving privileges will be suspended for four months. If you have 18 points on your license, your South Carolina driving privileges will be suspended for five months. If you have 20 points on your license, your South Carolina driving privileges will be suspended for at least six months.

If your South Carolina driving privileges are suspended for any amount of time, you will be notified by mail and you will be required to surrender your license in person to a South Carolina DMV office. Failure to do so will result in severe penalties, including the prospect of jail time.

Attending South Carolina Traffic School

There is good news. The South Carolina DMV will allow you to participate in a South Carolina driver improvement program once every three years at one of its sixteen technical colleges in order to have as many as four points removed from your South Carolina driving record. However, this class alone will not help to remove the traffic violation from your record or have your moving violation dismissed.

If you wish to appear in the local South Carolina county court overseeing your traffic violation, you may be able to request an opportunity to have your traffic violation reduced or dismissed. Also, because South Carolina courts have jurisdiction over South Carolina online traffic schools and South Carolina defensive driving programs, you may also be able to request to take traffic school online to fulfill the requirements set forth by the South Carolina DMV and also have points removed from your South Carolina driving record.

To see if you can participate in a South Carolina online traffic school or in accordance with South Carolina driver improvement standards, you should call the local South Carolina county court handling your traffic violation. You may also want to appear in court and ask the court directly for an opportunity to have your violation reduced or dismissed and to have points reduced against your South Carolina driving record by participating in a South Carolina online traffic school or South Carolina online defensive driver program.

The Benefits of a Clean South Carolina Driving Record

Participating in a South Carolina online traffic school or driver improvement program is an excellent way to help keep your South Carolina driving record as free of traffic violations and points as possible. In addition to avoiding costly fines, a clean South Carolina driving record is important to ensuring your South Carolina driving privileges are not revoked or suspended. In addition to these benefits, a South Carolina online traffic school will help you develop your defensive driving skills so that you can better avoid traffic violations in the future.

Further, you will often be able to lower your auto insurance payments by keeping your South Carolina driving record clear. By keeping South Carolina traffic violations off your South Carolina driving record, you help keep your car insurance premiums from skyrocketing. A South Carolina online traffic school or driver improvement program can help in your efforts to keep your South Carolina driving record clean before you are involved in a traffic violation, as well as after.

South Carolina Mature Driver Insurance Discount

A good South Carolina driving record can even help you receive an insurance discount. If you are a South Carolina Mature Driver, or a driver over the age of 55, your South Carolina auto insurance carrier may be willing to lower your insurance premiums if you participate in a South Carolina online traffic school or South Carolina online defensive driving program.

South Carolina Juvenile Driver Insurance Discount

Juvenile South Carolina drivers, or those under the age of 18, may also be able to take advantage of an online South Carolina driver improvement course in order to receive or maintain lower car insurance payments.

South Carolina Classroom Traffic Schools

If you are interested in participating in a more traditional brick-and-mortar traffic school, you can contact the South Carolina Driver Improvement office at (803) 896-9925 for a list of state-approved schools and locations of its 16 technical colleges.