South Carolina drivers who’ve kept their utility-terrain vehicles off public roads will have a legal path to bring them out starting Nov. 18, when a new state law takes effect allowing registered UTVs onto qualifying streets for the first time.
Under the law, owners will need to register their UTVs for a $10 fee covering a two-year plate, and operators must be at least 17 years old, licensed and insured. The vehicles are barred from interstates and any road with a posted speed limit above 55 mph, and they can’t travel more than 10 miles from the address where the vehicle is registered unless a local ordinance says otherwise — meaning counties retain room to tighten the rules further within their own borders.
The measure passed the state Senate 26-18 and the House 109-3 before the governor signed it into law in May, giving state agencies and vehicle owners a roughly six-month runway to prepare before the November start date. Until then, the state Department of Motor Vehicles is advising owners to keep the vehicles off public roads altogether, since none of the new registration or operating provisions are active yet.
The change gives rural and semi-rural households across the state a new, legal way to run errands or connect to nearby roads on UTVs that were previously restricted to private property, while still keeping them off the state’s higher-speed highway network.
