A pedestrian struck by a car on May River Road or Lawrence Street has no protection at all, so the injuries can be catastrophic or fatal. Luckily, South Carolina law protects pedestrians' rights because it requires drivers to use due care to avoid hitting people on foot.
When a driver’s negligence causes an accident and hurts a pedestrian, recovery may be available. A Bluffton, SC, pedestrian accident lawyer can help them strengthen their claim and protect their available compensation, since compensation depends on the share of fault of each party.
At the Arndt Law Firm, we represent pedestrians injured across Bluffton and Beaufort County. If a car hit you while you were on foot and you wonder whether you are owed compensation, contact us for a free consultation.
The state's pedestrian rules can be found in Title 56, Chapter 5 of the South Carolina Code, and they regulate how both pedestrians and drivers should behave on the road.
Section 56-5-3130(a) requires that, if traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, a driver must yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if need be, to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on the half of the roadway the vehicle is traveling on, or is approaching so closely from the other half as to be in danger.
The same section carries a limit on the pedestrian. Under subsection (b), no pedestrian may suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. That provision is the origin of most fault arguments raised against injured pedestrians. However, it addresses a sudden movement into an immediate hazard, not simply the act of crossing.
Subsection (d) adds a rule that decides a recurring fact pattern. If a vehicle is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross, a driver approaching from the rear may not overtake and pass that stopped vehicle. The person struck while walking out from in front of a courteously stopped car is protected by an express statutory prohibition.
The unmarked crosswalk is not a courtesy or an interpretation. It comes from the definition itself, since Section 56-5-500 defines a crosswalk to include that part of a roadway at an intersection lying within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway.
If a sidewalk approaches an intersection, the roadway between those sidewalk lines is a crosswalk as a matter of statutory definition, and the yielding duty in Section 56-5-3130 attaches to it.
No, since South Carolina Code Section 56-5-500 defines a crosswalk to include the part of a roadway at an intersection within the connections of the lateral sidewalk lines, with no marking required. The driver's duty to yield applies there in the same way it applies at a painted crossing.
Where a pedestrian crosses outside a crosswalk, the right of way flips. South Carolina Code Section 56-5-3150 requires the pedestrian to yield to vehicles in that situation, and a driver generally has the right of way.
That is not the end of the analysis, and treating it as the end is the most common error in this area. Section 56-5-3230 requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on any roadway, to sound the horn where necessary to give warning, and to exercise proper precaution on observing a child or a confused or incapacitated person.
The practical effect is that having the right of way is not permission to hit someone. A driver who strikes a pedestrian crossing mid-block can still be liable where the evidence shows the collision was avoidable, and the argument turns on speed, sight lines, lighting, attention, and reaction. A South Carolina pedestrian accident lawyer focuses on those aspects regardless of county or city.
If a driver crosses a sidewalk, such as entering or leaving a driveway or parking lot, Section 56-5-3250 requires the driver to yield to any pedestrian on that sidewalk.
South Carolina Code Section 56-5-3160 sets an order of preference that matters when an insurer argues an injured person was somewhere they should not have been. A pedestrian walking along a roadway must use a sidewalk where one is available. If there is no sidewalk, the shoulder. Where there is no shoulder, the outside edge of the roadway.
That hierarchy establishes that walking on the road is lawful in the absence of the alternatives rather than inherently careless. A person walking on the edge of a road that has no sidewalk and no usable shoulder is doing exactly what the statute contemplates.
The point carries weight along corridors where development arrived faster than pedestrian infrastructure. Where a route has no continuous sidewalk, the question is not whether the pedestrian should have been elsewhere but whether the driver exercised the due care the statute requires.
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reported that pedestrian fatalities across the state rose to 188 in 2023, up from 173 the year before, in its Traffic Collision Fact Book.
In Beaufort County, the same agency recorded 3,719 collisions of all types in the federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, including 21 fatal collisions. At the county level, pedestrian and cyclist deaths are recorded together: there were 7 fatalities of these types in the same fiscal year.
An injured pedestrian recovers as long as their share of the fault is not greater than the driver's, with the award reduced by that percentage. At 51 percent, the claim is barred. The rule comes from the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Nelson v. Concrete Supply Company (1991).
In pedestrian claims, comparative fault does the heavy work. Dark clothing, headphones, phone use, alcohol, crossing outside a crosswalk, and the exact position at impact are arguments that may be raised against a pedestrian. None of them ends a claim on its own. Each is a percentage to be argued.
The reduction is applied to the whole award, so the difference between an argued 20 percent and an accepted 40 percent is enormous on a serious injury. Building the record that supports the lower number is most of the work, and it starts with evidence that disappears quickly.
For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026, a defendant may also ask that a party who was never sued be assigned a share on the verdict form, if disclosed within one hundred eighty days and proved to be a proximate cause. This change has affected how a South Carolina personal injury lawyer works most types of cases.
Pedestrian collisions leave less physical evidence than vehicle collisions, and what exists degrades fast. There is often no vehicle-to-vehicle damage pattern to reconstruct from, so the case is built from the scene itself.
Signal timing data establishes what the walk phase was doing. Lighting conditions, sight lines from the driver's approach, and the presence or absence of a marked crossing are all measured rather than recalled. Vehicle event data can establish speed and braking. Any video from nearby premises is usually the single most valuable item and is held on a retention cycle controlled by whoever owns the camera.
Beaufort County operates public traffic cameras, viewable through the county's own site. Which agency investigated determines where the report and any bodycam footage sit: Bluffton Police Department inside town limits, the South Carolina Highway Patrol on the corridor outside them, with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, county EMS, and the Bluffton Township Fire District also responding.
Scene conditions change within days, and private camera footage is commonly overwritten within weeks. Signal timing records and vehicle data are retained longer but still require a request. A written preservation demand sent early is what protects all of it.
South Carolina Code Section 56-5-3230 does more than state a general duty of due care. It requires a driver to exercise proper precaution when observing a child, or a confused or incapacitated person, on a roadway. That is a heightened obligation written into the statute itself.
The practical effect is significant in a claim involving a child. A child's presence near a roadway is itself a circumstance the statute requires a driver to respond to, which reframes the usual argument that a child darted out unexpectedly. The question becomes what the driver did after a child became observable instead of what the child did.
The same provision reaches an older adult or a person with a visible impairment. Related sections address pedestrians guided by a dog or using a cane, requiring a vehicle to stop, and they establish that South Carolina expects drivers to adjust to the person in front of them.
Deadlines also work differently for a child. The limitations period is tolled during minority, though it cannot extend more than one year past the eighteenth birthday, which means the later of three years from the collision or one year after turning eighteen. A parent does not have to wait, and the evidence in a pedestrian case does not survive anywhere near that long.
Yes. Section 56-5-3230 requires a driver to exercise proper precaution when observing a child, or a confused or incapacitated person, on a roadway. That is a statutory obligation rather than an argument, and a child's claim also runs on a longer deadline.
A pedestrian struck by a vehicle absorbs the entire force of the impact with no structure around them, which produces a different injury profile from a vehicle occupant: head injuries, pelvic and lower extremity fractures, and internal injuries are all common, and treatment frequently extends well beyond the initial hospitalization.
South Carolina places no general statutory cap on non-economic damages in an ordinary injury case, so pain, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment are not limited by statute.
Coverage often falls short of the loss. The state minimum is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, which will not cover a serious pedestrian injury.
Uninsured motorist coverage is required in South Carolina at those same minimums, and underinsured coverage is optional, though an insurer must hold a signed form showing that underinsured coverage was offered and either accepted or rejected, failing which it must add the coverage and rate for it. Anyone injured as a pedestrian should have their own household policy read.
| Issue | The rule | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Marked crosswalk | Driver yields when signals are absent or not operating | Section 56-5-3130(a) |
| Unmarked crosswalk | Same right of way as a marked one | Implied sidewalk extension at an intersection |
| Passing a stopped vehicle | Prohibited at a crosswalk where a vehicle stopped for a pedestrian | Section 56-5-3130(d) |
| Outside a crosswalk | Pedestrian yields, but the driver still owes due care | Sections 56-5-3150 and 56-5-3230 |
| Walking along a road | Sidewalk, then shoulder, then outside edge | Section 56-5-3160 |
The general deadline is three years from the date of the collision. A wrongful death claim also runs three years, measured from the date of death rather than the date of the collision.
A claim involving a government vehicle, or one based on road design, signage, or a crossing that a public body was responsible for, runs two years under the Tort Claims Act. That can be extended to three years if the claimant files a claim under the chapter first, which the statute frames as an option that buys time rather than a mandatory precondition. Those claims are also capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence, with no punitive damages and no prejudgment interest.
Where a person was struck while working, a third-party claim must be commenced within one year of the compensation carrier accepting liability or making payment, after which the right of action can pass to the carrier. Children get a longer deadline, since it may be tolled during minority.
Some pedestrian collisions happen because of how a route was built rather than only how it was driven, and that opens a second claim against a different defendant.
The recurring issues are a missing or discontinuous sidewalk, a crossing spaced so far from the desire line that people cross elsewhere, signal timing that does not allow a walk phase long enough to finish crossing, obstructed sight lines at an approach, inadequate lighting, and a work zone configuration that pushed people into a travel lane.
However, it is important to note that South Carolina immunizes a government entity for the design of a highway or other public way, with no exception. A claim over a missing or malfunctioning signal, sign, warning device, or street light survives only if the entity responsible for maintenance had actual or constructive notice and failed to correct it within a reasonable time.
Those claims run against whichever public body or contractor was responsible for the roadway. Where the defendant is a government entity, the Tort Claims Act governs and almost every rule shifts.
The deadline is two years, extendable to three if a verified claim is filed under the chapter within the first year. Recovery is capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 for all claims from a single occurrence. Punitive damages and prejudgment interest are unavailable.
Venue is fixed as well, in the circuit court for the county where the act or omission occurred. If a private contractor performed the work, the first question is which regime governs it, because the answer changes the deadline and the ceiling.
Where road design, signal timing, signage, or maintenance contributed, a claim may exist under the Tort Claims Act.
A suit is filed in the Court of Common Pleas for Beaufort County, part of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, with the Clerk of Court at 102 Ribaut Road in Beaufort. Where a government entity is the defendant, the Tort Claims Act fixes venue in the county where the act or omission occurred.
Most Bluffton crash patients are treated locally, at Novant Health's Bluffton emergency department on Parkside Drive, at Novant Health Hilton Head Medical Center, or at Beaufort Memorial's Pratt Emergency Center in Beaufort.
Neither Beaufort County hospital holds a state trauma-center designation, so the nearest Level I trauma center is Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, about 30 miles away. A file that ends up split between a Bluffton ER and a Georgia trauma center needs both records requests started early.
Pedestrian collisions produce a higher share of drivers who leave than most collision types, and a person struck by a vehicle they cannot identify often assumes there is nothing to pursue.
Uninsured motorist coverage is required in South Carolina and can respond where the at-fault driver is unidentified as well as where they carry no insurance. The claim runs against the injured person's own carrier or a household policy rather than against a defendant who was never found, and it is the provision that makes these claims viable at all.
Prompt reporting to law enforcement is usually a condition of that coverage as well as the start of any effort to identify the vehicle. Anything recalled about the vehicle should be recorded early, before memory consolidates into something less specific.
Camera footage carries additional weight here, since it may be the only route to identifying the vehicle. Beaufort County operates public traffic cameras through its own site, and premises along a corridor commonly record on cycles controlled by the owner.
Uninsured motorist coverage is required in South Carolina and can respond where the driver is unidentified. Report the collision promptly, since that is necessary to get coverage.
Not automatically. A pedestrian outside a crosswalk yields to vehicles, but the driver still owes a duty of due care under Section 56-5-3230, and liability turns on whether the collision was avoidable.
Yes. An unmarked crosswalk at an intersection is the implied extension of the sidewalk, and the driver's duty to yield applies there.
Possibly. Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may be available, and whether underinsured coverage exists depends in part on whether your insurer holds a signed rejection form.
Yes, as long as you were 50 percent or less at fault. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and barred entirely at 51 percent or more.
That claim runs under the Tort Claims Act, with a two year deadline, damage caps, and no punitive damages, and it is worth identifying early because of the shorter clock.
It depends on the firm, but the Arndt Law Firm handles pedestrian accident cases on a contingency basis, meaning there is no fee unless there is a recovery. The initial consultation to evaluate a claim is free.
The Arndt Law Firm builds every Bluffton pedestrian accident case on the protections South Carolina law gives pedestrians, using the crosswalk right-of-way and due-care rules to establish the driver's violation, documenting how the crash happened, and identifying every source of coverage to address what are often catastrophic injuries.
Because attorney Arndt previously defended insurers, we understand how these claims are evaluated and where the effort to blame the pedestrian is made, and we build each case to overcome that and to pursue the full recovery a serious injury requires.
If you or a loved one was struck by a vehicle in Bluffton or anywhere in Beaufort County, early legal counsel is essential. For that reason, contact us as soon as possible or call (843) 438-7873: the first consultation is free, and we handle these cases on a contingency basis, meaning there are no fees unless there is a recovery.
Last reviewed: September 2026
This page was reviewed by Jonathan S. Arndt, licensed in South Carolina since 2018.
Content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed South Carolina attorney for guidance specific to your situation.
