Key Takeaways
- Carolina Squat ban in South Carolina now in effect with sliding scale for repeat offenders.
- Fines start at $100 for the first offense; second offense costs $200
- Third offense costs $300 and leads to one-year suspension of driver’s license.
- Several dangerous collisions caused by this modification.
As of May 10, the state of South Carolina will officially put into effect its ban on the controversial truck modifying trend known as the Carolina Squat. The trend has many names, including Tennessee Tilt and California Lean, but essentially refers to fitting lifted suspension to your truck at the front but not at the rear, often using one-half of a lift kit. The Chevrolet Silverado is a common candidate, but no truck is safe.
With the six-month grace period now over, owners have no excuse if caught driving on public roads with the modification in place and may now face a $100 fine for their first infringement and $200 for their second. Three strikes, and you’re out of pocket by another $300 and out of the good graces of your friends and family, who you will be asking for lifts to work for a year while you wait for your license suspension to lift.
Why The Law Is Necessary
SUVs and trucks already have deadly front fascias that are difficult to see over, and this trend exacerbates the problem. Moreover, tilted headlights can reduce the view out of the front and blind other traffic. For those in fun, low cars, the danger these trucks pose is obviously worsened, and for pedestrians, it’s not much better, as Myrtle Beach police told WBTW.
“What we kept noticing was [that] we were having several collisions where either a driver would approach a stop sign and not see the vehicle in front of them, or as they were traveling along, they didn’t see a vehicle stopped. On several of the collisions I worked on, it was like a sports car versus a squatted truck. From a reasonable distance – about 30 feet – once we went that additional inch [higher], you couldn’t see the top of [a] Mustang. And at that distance, you could barely see a child.”
– Myrtle Beach police Cpl. George Johnson.
Aftermarket tuning enthusiasts like to justify their modifications as a form of self-expression, and as someone who daily drove a dumped static A4 (a very low Audi, in real English) for several years, this author can sympathize to a degree. However, one’s right to self-expression does not outweigh the right of every other road user to a safe journey, and the Carolina Squat poses significant risks that are simply unnecessary, as are those posed by excessively lowered cars with overt camber settings and minimal tire contact patches.
Related
Lowrider Cars: Discover The Art Of Riding Low And Slow
The history of these masterpieces on wheels is as colorful as their bodies.
Up Is Outlawed, But Low Is Legal
Thus far, the Carolina Squat is already banned north of the state border and in Virginia, but on the other end of the aftermarket tuning culture spectrum, California officially ended its ban on lowrider cars in October last year, showing that it’s not an issue showing your creativity through a car, but whether that particular form of creative freedom risks the safety of others. Overlanders are also often heavily modified, but they’re totally acceptable. The Carolina Squat now joins the act of rolling coal in its rightful place on the naughty list, hopefully soon to be forgotten as a stupid trend that should never have started in the first place. If those guys want their trucks to do something cool, maybe they should consider an EV like the G-Class and its G-Turn, not a deadly truck with half a suspension kit.
Related
Carolina Squat: A Deep Dive Into The Controversial Truck Modification Trend
Also called the California Lean, this controversial style of truck stance is being banned in several US states.
#Carolina #Squat #Ban #South #Carolina #Puts #Drivers #Risk #Losing #License
