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If you drive a motorcycle, moped, or bicycle, you’ve probably experienced a situation where your bike wasn’t heavy enough to trigger a traffic signal change (when you drive up to the red light you have to wait longer than average for the light to turn green because the sensors in the ground are not triggered due to your low weight).
Well I’ve got good news! You don’t have to sit at these drastically long traffic lights forever.
See below for South Carolina law SECTION 56-5-970:
SECTION 56-5-970. Traffic-control signal legend.
(C)(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a driver of a motorcycle or moped, or a bicycle rider, approaches an intersection that is controlled by a traffic-control device, the driver may proceed through the intersection on a steady red light only if the driver or rider, as the case may be:
(a) comes to a full and complete stop at the intersection for one hundred twenty seconds; and
(b) exercises due care as provided by law, otherwise treats the traffic control device as a stop sign, and determines it is safe to proceed.
Visit SCStateHouse.gov to view more South Carolina Laws.
Lane splitting, which is depicted in the video below, is extremely dangerous and has led to thousands of motorcycle accidents. See the video below of a motorcyclist lane splitting:
A few weeks ago I posted a video called “You Didn’t See Me” that sheds light on the tragic consequences of motorcycle accidents. After forty years of practicing criminal defense, workers compensation and personal injury law in South Carolina, I can tell you that motorcycle wrecks are some of the most horrific cases I have been involved in. I can also tell you that after many of these wrecks the other driver reports that they never saw my client or their bike.
To bring awareness to the dangers of motorcycles going unseen on our roadways, I had bumper stickers made. Please feel free to stop by my office to pick one up for your car or bike! We are located next to the Charleston Crab House on James Island (147 Wappoo Creek Drive). Click here if you need directions or give us a call 795-9300.
Image taken from the cause, LOOK TWICE - SAVE A LIFE - MOTORCYCLES ARE EVERYWHERE!
It seems that more often than not, we don’t educate ourselves about a topic until something serious happens that catches our attention and peaks our interest. The South Carolina Highway Patrol shares some pretty interesting statistics on their website about accidents involving motorcycles that I find worthy of sharing:
- In crashes involving a motorcycle and a different type of vehicle, two-thirds of the time, it is the other vehicle that violates the motorcycle’s right of way.
- Intersections are dangerous places: twenty-five percent of all motorcycle wrecks result when the other vehicle turns left across the motorcycle’s path.
- Failing to yield can be lethal: whether it’s the error of the motorcyclist or the other driver, failing the yield results in the most motorcycle deaths in South Carolina.
Sadly, this summer has been filled with numerous motorcycle wrecks in the Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley county area. Riding bikes is a favored way of life for many of us in the Lowcountry and that isn’t going to change anytime soon! What does need to change is every driver’s level of awareness for other motorists sharing the roadways.
If you haven’t seen this video, I would highly recommend it. As a lawyer in Charleston who represents many injured bikers or in the worst case scenarios, the families of bikers killed in wrecks, I am all too familiar with the tragic consequences of accidents involving motorcycles. I have also, unfortunately, been injured while riding my bike and have experienced, firsthand, the dangers of not being seen by other drivers.
See video below:
