S.C. Code Ann. § 56-1-50 – Beginner's permit; application, issuance, renewal and fee; use of permit; driver's training course; daylight hours

(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 which entitles the applicant having the permit in his immediate possession to drive a motor vehicle under the conditions contained in this section on the public highways for not more than twelve months.
(B) The permit is valid only in the operation of:
1. (1) vehicles during the daylight hours;
2. (2) motor scooter or light motor-driven cycle of five-brake horsepower or less during daylight hours.
(C) Except as provided in subsection (E), while driving, as provided in subsection (B)(1), 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, and who is occupying a seat beside the driver, except when the permittee is operating a motorcycle. A three-wheel vehicle requires the accompanying driver to be directly behind the driver on a saddle-type seat or beside the driver on a bench-type seat.
(D) A beginner's permit may be renewed or a new permit issued for additional periods of twelve months, but 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. (1) a student 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. (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 ninety days before being eligible for full licensure.
(G) Daylight hours, as used in this section, means after the hour of six o'clock a.m. and no later than six o'clock p.m. However, beginning on the day that daylight saving time goes into effect through the day that daylight saving time ends, the holder of the permit may operate a vehicle after six o'clock a.m. and no later than eight o'clock p.m.