S.C. Code Ann. § 56-1-50 – Beginner's permit; hours and conditions of vehicle operation; renewal and fee; driver's training course; eligibility for full licensure

(A) A person who is at least fifteen years of age may apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles 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 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 the permittee's licensed parent or guardian;
2. (2) motorcycles, motor scooters, or light motor-driven cycles of five- brake horsepower or less after six o'clock a.m. and not 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 permittee may operate motor scooters or light motor-driven cycles after six o'clock a.m. and not later than eight o'clock p.m. A permittee may not operate a motorcycle, motor scooter, or light motor-driven cycle at any other time unless supervised by the permittee's motorcycle licensed parent or guardian.
(C) The accompanying driver must occupy a seat beside the permittee, except when the permittee is operating a motorcycle. A three-wheel vehicle requires the accompanying driver to be directly behind the permittee on a saddle-type seat or beside the permittee 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 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. (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 as provided in the following schedule based on the actual date of receipt by the Department of Motor Vehicles:
Fees and Penalties General Fund Department of
Collected After of the State Transportation
State Non-Federal Aid
Highway Fund
June 30, 2005 60 percent 40 percent
June 30, 2006 20 percent 80 percent
June 30, 2007 0 percent 100 percent.