From South Carolina Code of Laws
Code 1976 § 56-5-4790. Single-beam road-lighting equipment.
Head lamps arranged to provide a single distribution of light not supplemented by auxiliary
driving lamps shall be permitted on motor vehicles manufactured and sold prior to April 29,
1939 in lieu of multiple-beam road-lighting equipment herein specified, if the single distribution
of light complies with the following requirements and limitations:
(1) The head lamps shall be so aimed that when the vehicle is not loaded none of the highintensity
portion of the light shall at a distance of twenty-five feet ahead project higher than a
level of five inches below the level of the center of the lamp from which it comes and in no case
higher than forty-two inches above the level on which the vehicle stands at a distance of
seventy-five feet ahead; and
(2) The intensity shall be sufficient to reveal persons and vehicles at a distance of at least two
hundred feet.
Code 1976 § 56-5-170. Authorized emergency vehicles defined.
(A) Authorized emergency vehicles for purposes of this section include the following:
(1) fire department vehicles;
(2) police vehicles;
(3) ambulances and rescue squad vehicles which are publicly owned;
(4) vehicles of coroners and deputy coroners of the forty-six counties as designated by
the coroners;
(5) emergency vehicles designated by the fire department or the chief of police of a
municipality;
(6) county government litter enforcement vehicles used by certified law enforcement
Class 3 litter control officers;
(7) Department of Natural Resources vehicles, federal natural resources vehicles, and
forestry commission vehicles when being used in the performance of law enforcement
duties;
(8) public and private vehicles while transporting individuals actually engaged in
emergency activities because one or more occupants belong to a fire department,
volunteer fire department, police department, sheriff's office, authorized county
government litter enforcement office, rescue squad, or volunteer rescue squad;
(9) county or municipal government jail or corrections vehicles used by certified jail or
corrections officers, and emergency vehicles designated by the Director of the South
Carolina Department of Corrections;
(10) vehicles designated by the Commissioner of the Department of Health and
Environmental Control when being used in the performance of law enforcement or
emergency response duties.
(11) federal law enforcement, military, and emergency vehicles; and
(12) organ procurement organization vehicles, which means vehicles operated by
organizations that perform or coordinate the procurement, preservation, and transport
of organs and maintain systems for locating prospective recipients for available organs.
(B) Only authorized emergency vehicles and private security patrol vehicles regulated by the
State Law Enforcement Division are allowed use or display of any blue lights or red lights. This
includes light bars and smaller lights such as dash, deck, or visor lights. To “display” means to be
seen, whether activated or not.
(C) A vehicle shall not display the word ‘police’ unless it is an authorized emergency vehicle for
use only by sworn police or other officers who are approved and certified by the South Carolina
Criminal Justice Academy.
(D) The provisions of this section do not apply to automobile dealerships, to police equipment
suppliers that sell, deliver, or equip police vehicles to or for a law enforcement agency, to
vehicles owned solely as collector's items and used only for participation in club activities,
exhibits, tours, parades, and similar uses, or to persons designated by an agency owning such a
vehicle to drive the vehicle or drive an auxiliary vehicle transporting such a vehicle.