Wipers + Headlights = The Law

I don't want any of us to be in a traffic accident, and I hope that's not what it takes to get more of us to obey a basic but important law of our roads.

I've written about this before, but it needs to be said again.

It's the law in South Carolina that if your windshield wipers are running, your headlights must be on as well.

As I drove to the News Channel 7 studios on a rainy day this week, I noticed many drivers were not obeying the law, so I kept count briefly.

During approximately five minutes driving on Interstate 26, I counted 16 vehicles using wipers but not burning headlights.

I was on Business Interstate 85 about one minute and counted six violators.

Folks, whether you like this law or not, we need to do a better job obeying it. Our safety... yours and mine... is at stake.

The Highway Patrol has many things to do and probably won't pull over many drivers for this violation. It's a misdemeanor carrying a fine of only 25 dollars.

But on a rainy day, I'm in favor of just about anything that makes vehicles more visible, and wipers/headlights has been the law since 1989.

We all need to obey it.

Here is the law for you to see for yourself:

SECTION 56-5-4450. Times when vehicles must be equipped with lights.

Every vehicle upon a street or highway within this State shall display lighted lamps and illuminating devices, excluding parking lights, from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, and at any other time when windshield wipers are in use as a result of rain, sleet, or snow, or when inclement weather or environmental factors severely reduce the ability to clearly discern persons and vehicles on the street or highway at a distance of five hundred feet ahead as required in this article for different classes of vehicles, subject to exceptions with respect to parked vehicles as provided in this article; provided, however, the provisions of this section requiring use of lights in conjunction with the use of windshield wipers shall not apply to instances when windshield wipers are used intermittently in misting rain, sleet, or snow.

Until January 1, 1989, any person who fails to display the lights of a vehicle he is operating when lights are required by this section due to inclement weather or environmental factors may be issued only a warning ticket.

Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, may be fined up to twenty-five dollars.