Reckless Driving

2025-2026 Bill 4773: Reckless Driving - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4773
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. J.E. Johnson
Document Path: LC-0407CM26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Judiciary
Summary: Reckless Driving
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/16/2025

House

Prefiled

12/16/2025

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary

1/13/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 86
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 86
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/17/2025

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
56-5-2920
, RELATING TO RECKLESS DRIVING AND PENALTIES, SO AS TO REVISE
THE PENALTY PROVISIONS.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
56-5-2920
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
56-5-2920
.
(
A)
Any
Notwithstanding
another provision of law, a
person who drives any vehicle in
such
a manner as to indicate either a wilful or wanton
disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving
. The Department of Motor Vehicles, upon receiving satisfactory
evidence of the conviction, of the entry of a plea of guilty or the forfeiture
of bail of any person charged with a second and subsequent offense for the
violation of this section shall forthwith suspend the driver's license of any such
person for a period of three months. Only those offenses which occurred within
a period of five years including and immediately preceding the date of the last
offense shall constitute prior offenses within the meaning of this section. Any
person violating the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, entry
of a plea of guilty or forfeiture of bail, be punished by a fine of not less
than twenty-five dollars nor more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment
for not more than thirty days.
;

(
B) a person violating the provisions
of this section, upon conviction, entry of a plea of guilty, or forfeiture of
bail, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more
than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days;

(
C) upon a second or subsequent
conviction, a person shall be required to complete a defensive driving course,
as described in Section
56-1-770
, and provide proof of the course completion to
the Department of Motor Vehicles within sixty days of conviction. If the department
does not receive such proof within the specified time, the department shall
suspend the person's driving privilege for three months or until proof of
completion is received by the department, whichever occurs earlier. If the
license of a person is suspended pursuant to the provisions of this section,
the person does not have to offer proof of financial responsibility, as
required pursuant to Section
56-9-500
, prior to the person's license being
reinstated; and

(
D) only those offenses which occurred
within a period of three years, including and immediately preceding the date of
the last offense, shall constitute prior offenses within the meaning of this
section.

S
ECTION 2. This act takes effect six months
after approval by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 2:40 PM