At Arndt Law Firm, we understand how overwhelming life can become after a pedestrian accident. Our team has seen firsthand the impact these collisions have on individuals and families in Georgetown, from mounting medical bills to the uncertainty that comes with a long recovery. We’re here to help you navigate the aftermath, whether you were hit in a crosswalk, along Ocean Highway, or anywhere else in Georgetown County.
South Carolina law protects pedestrians, requiring drivers to exercise due care at intersections and even outside of marked crosswalks. These rules matter every day on busy roads like Ocean Highway, where fast-moving traffic passes right by homes, businesses, and beach access points. Sadly, this stretch has seen multiple serious pedestrian accidents in recent years.
Our team brings a deep knowledge of South Carolina’s pedestrian laws and a commitment to standing up for people injured on foot. We know how to investigate these cases, push back against blame-shifting tactics, and build clear, evidence-based claims for our clients.
If you or a loved one has been hit while walking in Georgetown, reach out to our team today. We offer free consultations and only get paid if we recover for you. Let’s talk about what happened and how we can help you move forward.
The definition does the work, and it is broader than paint. S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-500 (2024) defines a crosswalk as two things.
The first is that part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway, measured from the curbs or, where there are no curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway. Nothing in that limb mentions markings.
The second is any portion of a roadway, at an intersection or elsewhere, distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.
Both are crosswalks, and the driver's duty to yield under S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3130 (2024) attaches to either. Where a sidewalk approaches an intersection, the roadway between those lines is a crosswalk whether or not anyone painted it, and the common insurer answer that there were no markings is not a response to the duty.
Subsection (d) of S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3130 (2024) settles a recurring scenario. Where 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.
Does a crosswalk have to be painted in South Carolina?
No, S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-500 (2024) defines a crosswalk to include the roadway at an intersection lying within the connections of the lateral sidewalk lines, with no marking required. Markings create a second category rather than the only one.
The fatal pedestrian collisions in this county happened on US 17, and the circumstances are worth stating plainly because they recur.
In one, a Pawleys Island man trying to cross Ocean Highway near Professional Lane was struck by a southbound SUV at around 7:15 in the evening and died. In another, a pedestrian walking south along Highway 17 near Egret Run Lane, about two miles north of Pawleys Island, was struck by a southbound vehicle at around 3:05 in the morning and died.
Those are the two situations a highway through a developed corridor produces. People cross it because homes, businesses, and beach access sit on both sides and the distance to a controlled crossing is long. People walk along it because there is somewhere to get to and no continuous alternative.
S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3160 (2024) sets the order of preference for walking along a roadway. A pedestrian must use a sidewalk where one is available, then the shoulder where there is no sidewalk, then the outside edge of the roadway. That hierarchy establishes that walking on the roadway is lawful in the absence of the alternatives rather than careless in itself.
Where a pedestrian crosses outside a crosswalk, S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3150 (2024) requires them to yield. However, S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3230 (2024) still requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, to sound the horn where necessary, and to exercise proper precaution when observing a child or a confused or incapacitated person.
Both published fatal pedestrian collisions here happened in darkness, one in the evening and one before dawn. That makes lighting and visibility the central factual question rather than a background detail.
What a driver could see, from what distance, is establishable. Whether a stretch of highway was lit, what the vehicle's headlights illuminated, whether the pedestrian was moving with or against traffic, and what the sight distance was on the approach are all measurable. They answer the standard defense that a person appeared from nowhere.
Speed is the companion element. On a highway carrying through traffic past homes and businesses, the gap between the posted limit and the actual speed changes both the reaction distance available and the severity of the impact, and it is proved from scene measurements and vehicle data rather than from an estimate.
Where an older pedestrian was involved, an additional argument arises about reaction time and judgment. It is answered the same way, with measurement, and S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3230 (2024)'s requirement of proper precaution when observing a person who is confused or incapacitated is a duty on the driver rather than a criticism of the pedestrian.
How is fault decided when someone is hit at night?
From lighting conditions, sight distance on the driver's approach, headlight illumination, the pedestrian's position and direction of travel, and the vehicle's actual speed. Those are measured rather than recalled, and they answer the claim that a person appeared from nowhere.
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reported that pedestrian fatalities across the state rose to 187 in 2023, up from 173 the year before, in its Traffic Collision Fact Book.
That figure is statewide rather than local and is presented as such. What it establishes is that pedestrian deaths in South Carolina were increasing rather than falling in the most recent published year, which is the relevant background to any suggestion that a pedestrian collision is a freak event nobody could have anticipated.
Pedestrian involvement is a subset broken out separately in the same county file.
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 and barred at 51 percent. The rule comes from Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., a South Carolina Supreme Court decision and not a statute, which is worth stating because published South Carolina pages sometimes attribute it to a code section governing a different question.
Pedestrian claims are where comparative fault does its heaviest work. Dark clothing, crossing away from a controlled intersection, the hour, alcohol, and the exact position at impact are all raised. None ends a claim. Each is a percentage argued from evidence, and the reduction applies to the whole award.
Two answers apply on this corridor specifically. Where no continuous sidewalk existed, S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3160 (2024) directs a pedestrian to the shoulder and then the outside edge, so being there is compliance rather than carelessness. And where the nearest controlled crossing was a considerable distance away, the absence of crossing infrastructure is a fact about the road rather than a failing of the person who used it.
South Carolina’s apportionment statute was amended for claims governed by the post-January 1, 2026 version of S.C. Code Ann. § 15-38-15 (2024). The application of that provision depends on the parties and facts of the case.
| Situation | The rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Unmarked crossing at an intersection | Is a crosswalk by definition | Section 56-5-500(1) |
| Marked crossing anywhere | Is a crosswalk by definition | Section 56-5-500(2) |
| Vehicle stopped at a crosswalk | A following driver may not overtake and pass | Section 56-5-3130(d) |
| Pedestrian outside a crosswalk | 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 |
| Leaving the scene where death results | Felony, up to twenty-five years | Section 56-5-1210 |
Pedestrian collisions produce a higher share of drivers who leave than most collision types, and identifying an unknown vehicle on a highway at night is difficult.
The criminal exposure is severe. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-1210 (2024), leaving the scene of a collision is a felony carrying not less than thirty days and up to ten years, with a fine between five thousand and ten thousand dollars, where great bodily injury results. Where death results, the sentence runs from one year to twenty-five years, with a fine between ten thousand and twenty-five thousand dollars.
On the civil side, 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. That claim runs against the injured person's own carrier or a household policy rather than against a defendant who was never found, and prompt reporting to law enforcement is generally a condition of it.
Where a collision happened near a commercial cluster along the corridor, nearby businesses may record, and that footage sits on retention cycles controlled by whoever owns the camera.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol investigated both of this county's published fatal pedestrian collisions and every other published fatal collision on the corridor. In a county whose serious crashes occur largely on a state and federal highway, it is the dominant investigating agency.
The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office responds within the county, and the Georgetown County Coroner's Office confirms fatalities, identifies victims, and states the cause of death, maintaining a file separate from the investigating agency's.
Under S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-1290 (2024), the reports drivers and owners must file are not admissible at trial as evidence of negligence or due care, and officers may refer to them only to refresh recollection. The report starts the investigation rather than resolving it, a principle running through every Georgetown crash claim.
Medical records depend on which facility received the person. Depending on the circumstances, patients may be treated at Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital or Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet.
A pedestrian struck by a vehicle absorbs the entire force with no structure around them, producing head injuries, pelvic and lower extremity fractures, and internal injuries. Treatment frequently extends well past the initial hospitalization.
Where the injured person is older, which the county's age profile makes more likely here than in neighboring counties, the injury pattern shifts toward fractures and the recovery is slower. An insurer will raise pre-existing degenerative changes, and the answer is that a defendant takes the injured person as found, with the question being whether the collision made a manageable condition symptomatic.
South Carolina places no general statutory cap on non-economic damages in an ordinary injury case, so pain, disfigurement, and loss of independence are not limited by statute. Entitlement to punitive damages must be proven by clear and convincing evidence of wilful, wanton, or reckless conduct under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-32-520 (2024). They are generally capped at the greater of three times compensatory damages or the statutory $500,000 amount, subject to statutory adjustment under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-32-530 (2024).
The cap does not apply in specified cases involving intent to harm, a qualifying felony conviction, or alcohol or drug impairment meeting the statute’s requirements under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-32-530(C) (2024).
Coverage usually falls short. The state minimum is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Uninsured motorist coverage is required at those same limits. Underinsured coverage is optional, though an insurer must hold a signed form showing underinsured coverage was offered and either accepted or rejected, failing which it must add the coverage and rate for it.
A fatal pedestrian collision produces two claims under South Carolina law. The wrongful death action compensates the statutory beneficiaries. The survival action carries forward what the person suffered before death, and its proceeds go to the estate where creditors can reach them.
The action must be brought by the personal representative of the estate, so a probate appointment has to precede any filing, and the deadline runs three years from the date of death rather than from the collision. Settlement of either claim requires court approval. The wrongful death analysis sets out that sequence.
The general deadline is three years from the date of the collision. A claim based on road design, lighting, or crossing provision a public body was responsible for runs two years under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-78-110 (2024) (Tort Claims Act), extendable to three years where a claim is filed under the chapter first, with recovery capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence and no punitive damages.
A person struck while working may have a third-party claim that must be commenced within one year of the compensation carrier accepting liability or making payment. Different timing rules can apply when the injured pedestrian is a minor. S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-40 (2024) can toll the limitations period during minority, so the deadline should be calculated for the individual case rather than assumed from the ordinary three-year rule.
A standard Georgetown County pedestrian injury lawsuit is filed in the Georgetown County Court of Common Pleas, part of South Carolina’s Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. The courthouse is at 401 Cleland Street, 1st Floor, Room 115, Georgetown, SC 29440. The Clerk of Court handles the filing of new civil cases, judgments, lis pendens, arbitration actions, and attachments.
The steps that matter most close quickly, and on a highway corridor several close faster than in town.
Get evaluated even where the injuries seem manageable, because the medical record created in the first days is the document an insurer weighs most heavily when it later argues an injury came from something else.
Photograph the location before anything changes, and photograph it at the same hour the collision happened. Lighting is the central question in both of this county's published fatal pedestrian collisions, and a photograph taken at noon says nothing about what a driver could see at three in the morning.
Capture the sidewalk position on both sides, the shoulder, the distance to the nearest controlled crossing, and the sight line from the direction the vehicle approached. Where a sidewalk continues across an intersection, that geometry is what makes the location a crosswalk by statutory definition.
Identify the investigating agency, since the Highway Patrol, the Sheriff's Office, and neighboring municipal departments maintain separate systems. Report the collision to your own insurer as well, which is a separate obligation from anything owed to the driver's carrier.
What should I photograph after being hit while walking?
The crossing or shoulder, the sight line from the driver's approach, the distance to the nearest controlled crossing, and the lighting at the same hour the collision happened.
Section 56-5-3230 does more than state a general duty of due care. It requires a driver to exercise proper precaution on observing a child, or a confused or incapacitated person, on a roadway. That is a heightened obligation written into the statute rather than an argument built on sympathy.
The effect is significant in a claim involving a child, because a child's presence near a roadway is a circumstance the statute requires a driver to respond to. That reframes the argument that a child ran out unexpectedly, and the question becomes what the driver did once a child became observable.
The same provision reaches an older adult or a person with a visible impairment. In a county whose injured population skews older, it is engaged more often than a driver might assume. A person crossing slowly, using a walking aid, or hesitating in a travel lane is exactly the circumstance the statute addresses.
Deadlines also work differently for a child. S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-40 (2024) can toll the limitations period during minority, so the deadline should be calculated for the individual case rather than assumed from the ordinary three-year rule.
Does the law treat a child or older pedestrian differently?
Yes. S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3230 (2024) requires a driver to exercise proper precaution when observing a child, or a confused or incapacitated person, on a roadway.
No, a pedestrian outside a crosswalk yields to vehicles, but the driver still owes a duty of due care under S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3230 (2024), and liability turns on whether the collision was avoidable.
S.C. § 56-5-3160 (2024) directs a pedestrian to a sidewalk where available, then the shoulder, then the outside edge of the roadway. Walking there in the absence of the alternatives is what the statute contemplates.
Possibly. Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may respond, and whether underinsured coverage exists may depend on whether your insurer holds a signed rejection form.
Uninsured motorist coverage can respond where the driver is unidentified. Report the collision promptly, since prompt reporting is generally a condition of that coverage.
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, and the fee is contingent on recovery.
At Arndt Law Firm, our team approaches every pedestrian accident case with a focus on the facts that truly matter. We know that in Georgetown, the question of fault often shapes the outcome more than the size of the medical bills. That’s why we work to reconstruct what happened, gathering evidence about lighting, sight lines, and the conditions that affected what a driver could see on the corridor, especially when collisions happen at night.
We’re committed to documenting every detail that can make a difference for your case. When there’s no continuous sidewalk, or the nearest safe crossing is far away, we show how those road conditions affect the claim. Our experience in the local courts and knowledge of Georgetown’s unique challenges mean we know how to present your story clearly and effectively.
Our team stands by you at every step, answering your questions, protecting your rights, and making sure your voice is heard. Every case is reviewed by Attorney Jonathan S. Arndt, who has handled pedestrian matters across Georgetown County since 2018.
If you’re ready to talk about your case, reach out to us today. Consultations are always free, and you don’t owe any fee unless we recover for you. You can reach the firm through the contact page. Let’s find out together how we can help you move forward after a pedestrian accident.
Last reviewed: August 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.
