Defensive Driving in South Carolina: Points, Tickets and Your Options

Start here: what a course can and cannot do

A course will not dismiss your ticket. Nothing on SCDMV's points page or in S.C. Code Section 56-1-770 lets a class dismiss a charge or keep a conviction off your record. The course acts afterward: once points are on the record, finishing it subtracts four.

Want to stop the conviction from happening at all? That is a job for the Traffic Education Program, run by the circuit solicitors under the state code's Title 17, Chapter 22, Article 3. It is a diversion program combining education and community service, and the prosecutor decides who gets in, not SCDMV.

Before your court date: pay, fight or divert

Most tickets go to a county magistrate court or a city municipal court; the ticket names the court and the date. Paying the fine, or forfeiting a bond you posted, is a conviction, so the points reach SCDMV and your insurer. Many counties accept online payment, though options vary by court.

Pleading not guilty means coming to court on your date and asking for a trial; a jury trial has to be requested in writing beforehand. Convicted in magistrate court? Section 18-3-30 lets you appeal by filing a notice with the circuit court clerk within ten days of sentencing, and that right survives even if you paid the fine. Skipping court without paying can get your license suspended.

If you qualify: the Traffic Education Program

Every circuit solicitor is allowed to offer a Traffic Education Program. It is limited to offenses that carry only a fine and four points or fewer, it excludes any offense that killed or seriously injured someone, and it is a one-time opportunity. Section 17-22-320 adds that your record cannot show a significant history of traffic violations.

Complete the program and the solicitor's office closes your ticket with a noncriminal disposition. The catch: any new traffic violation in the six months after the original ticket was written gets you removed and the old charge put back on the docket. Commercial drivers cannot enter at all. Under federal rule 49 CFR 384.226, no state may let someone with a CDL or commercial learner's permit use diversion to hide a traffic conviction (parking aside), whatever vehicle they were in, and solicitors' offices treat CDL holders as ineligible.

Procedures differ from circuit to circuit. Take the First Circuit: there, you go to court on the date printed on the ticket, request a referral from the judge, and then do four hours of community service plus a four hour defensive driving class, with your ticket left pending for six months. Other circuits let you apply ahead of the court date. Either way, the moment you have the ticket, phone the solicitor's office in the circuit where it was written.

The money side is in Section 17-22-350: $140 to apply, which you will not get back and which cannot be lowered, then a participation fee capped at $140. Nobody can be turned away for lack of money, and both fees have to be waived if you are found unable to pay. The fees fund the solicitor's program and are separate from what you pay for any defensive driving class, so ask your circuit's diversion office for the deadline and get it in writing before your court date passes.

After a conviction: how the four point reduction works

The four point reduction comes from Section 56-1-770. It applies to the National Safety Council Defensive Driving Course and to any SCDMV-approved equivalent with an accredited instructor. The points page on SCDMV's site lays down these extra conditions.

Motorcyclists get a matching option. A South Carolina technical college motorcycle safety course of eight hours or more, or an equivalent, also takes off four points under the same section.

• Taken in South Carolina
• Eight hours of classroom training
• Online only if it is the National Safety Council program
• Completed after the violation date on the ticket
• Usable once in any three year period

How points add up in South Carolina

Convictions count wherever they happened: in South Carolina, in another state, or in a military court martial. Section 56-1-720 assigns the values. Speeding is two points at 10 mph over or less, four points between 11 and 24 over, and six points at 25 or more. Six points also attach to reckless driving and to passing a stopped school bus. Tailgating and failure to yield cost four.

Points lose value as they age. A year after the violation date SCDMV counts them at half, which makes a four point ticket worth two, and Section 56-1-750 drops them from the count once they are more than 24 months older than your most recent violation. The clock runs back from your newest violation, not from today.

Say you got a four point speeding ticket last spring and a two point one this month. Last spring's ticket now counts as two, so your active total is four. A course would take four points off, but it would then be unavailable to you for three years, so think about timing before you spend it.

If you are near 12 points

Section 56-1-740 suspends a license at 12 points. The length depends on the total: 12 to 15 points is three months, 16 or 17 is four months, 18 or 19 is five months, and 20 or more is six months.

Timing is everything. Finish the course before the suspension date and you may fall back below 12. Finish it after the suspension has begun and SCDMV will not lift it. DUI and similar offenses are a separate track with mandatory suspensions that the point system does not touch.

For parents: teens hit the limit at six

Teens are held to a tighter standard. Six points on a beginner's permit or a Conditional or Special Restricted license brings a six month suspension, and SCDMV says that taking the National Safety Council course, or any equivalent, will not bring the license back. If your teen already has a four point speeding ticket, make sure they understand a second ticket could mean six months off the road.

Insurance credits and court-ordered courses

If you are 25 or older and choose to take an approved course, Section 38-73-736 makes your insurer give you a premium credit for at least 36 months. The course needs four or more classroom hours, an SCDMV-licensed school and a permitted instructor. Your insurer is allowed to make the credit conditional on staying free of at fault accidents for three years afterward.

Required courses do not earn the discount. A class you take because of an offense, the Alcohol and Drug Safety Action Program being one example, is excluded. When a court or SCDMV orders a course, do exactly what the order says about which program and where proof goes; a point reduction course you choose yourself is not a substitute unless the order says so.