I have been in SC for a few months now and I have noticed some strange laws here. There is a seat belt for automobiles law but no helmet law for motorcycles. Does that make sense for anyone else ? Also, I was surprised to find that you can hang out in the bars until 4 or 5 a.m. drinking little mini bottles of liquor but when I tried to buy a bottle of brake fluid at Wal Mart on Sunday morning I found out it was against the law. You can buy gas on Sunday morning, but not brake fluid. If I run out of gas it is a problem for me but if I run out of brake fluid, that becomes a problem for most anyone who happens to be in my way. What the hell is going on here ?
Maybe it would be best if you went back to where you came from. You know, that happy land where all the laws make sense and everybody has a great job and all that stuff.
Spoken like a true American 
(not meant to be snarky)
Well, I like it here for the most part. Just thought it was strange that you can drive a motorcycle without a helmet but not a car without a seatbelt. Not sure what you mean by the job comment. I have the same occupation here that I had in NC. Sorry if I offended you in some way.
What county are you in? Blue laws are a county thing - you can buy brake fluid on a Sunday here in Richland but not across the line in Lexington.
And here in Columbia you can only be up drinking those mini bottles (which may go to free pour soon) until 2.
Did you know you can’t get a tattoo either?
I heard that free pour may be coming. I am a musician so I travel around a good bit. Last time I was in Richburg (Chester county I think) the place was open til well past three. In Newberry county I have also drank well past three and down in Aiken I have had a real tequilla sunrise (at sunrise). I’ll be playing in Columbia for the first time this month so I guess I’ll get my drinking in before 2 a.m.
Didn’t know about the tattoos either. Wonder why ?
Like Cheney, the following statement lacks substance:
South Carolina sucks.
Not all together. There are some pretty cool things about SC too. They just seem to have some backwards ideas about a few things.
John Carter of Mars: what part of Mr.Niceguy’s leaving town would make those laws any less stupid? Not being able to buy brake fluid at any given time of day is equally idiotic whether you’re visiting the state for a week or you’ve lived there your whole life. Sure, you can adopt an attitude of “if you don’t like it, leave,” but that’s just begging the question, and rather blatantly at that.
The only proper responses to a complaint about a law are 1) a defense of the law: what benefit does it provide that justify its continued existance?, or 2) agreement that the law (or the applicable excerpt of it) is stupid and ought to be changed or repealed. The third response, 3) Hi, Opal!, has been deemed unconstitutional by a number of state legislatures, so that’s out right there. Seriously, though, what does your response mean? Do you support the ban on Sunday morning brake fluid purchase? Why?
I do. It is to stop people from drinking brake fluid on the Sabbath. Drinking brake fluid is really, really bad for you. You say that you just wanted brake fluid for your car but doesn’t everyone (wink, wink) say that too.
I do not pretent to be able to explain South Carolina laws concerning alcohol and brake fluid.
I will, however, warn you not to try to get around this silly state of affairs by disguising your illicit brake fluid as beer or liquor.
Concurrent with that, I will also warn you not to use an empty beer or liquor bottle as the repository into which to drain your brake fluid when it comes time to bleed your lines.
In fact, don’t ever put brake fluid in anything even remotely resembling something you’d ever want to drink from.
::shudders viscerally, winces, and makes horrid pukey-face at memory of taste::
<snip>
While his leaving South Carolina wouldn’t change the laws, it would certainly remove any affect South Carolina’s laws have on him.
Ok, Mr. Niceguy, here’s an apology for being too snarky. I’ll blame it on the flu medicine I’m taking.
I just vacationed in South Carolina this year and had never heard of the mini-bottle thing until I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea.
The server was kind enough to tell me that he’d be happy to make one but it would cost around $30. :eek:
I had a beer instead.
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars
Ok, Mr. Niceguy, here’s an apology for being too snarky. I’ll blame it on the flu medicine I’m taking.[/QUOTE]
Maybe the best thing for you to do is stop taking that cold medicine and go live in that happy land where people never get sick and everybody has their own horse to ride.
Just kidding.
I lived there for about a year and a half and quite frankly, I was happy to leave. I will say that Charlseton, where I lived, was very pretty and very nice to visit. Originally being from Michigan, I could not stand to live there any more.
I have spent a fair amount of time in SC over the years. I am from NC so the culture and such is much the same. I wasn’t aware of the still active blue laws and the motorcycle helmet / seatbelt situation until I actually moved here. We have seat belt law in NC and I never liked the idea. There are signs upon entering the state of SC advertising the seat belt law so when I saw motorcycle after motorcyle with helmetless riders I just thought that was very strange that a state would propose to be so concerned about highway safety and then have no helmet law. I think it gets back to why the seatbelt laws came about in the first place, revenue and probable cause for traffic stops.
I can see where a guy from Michigan might not want to make SC home. It is very southern here. I spent several months in Indiana a few years back and though I enjoyed the stay for the most part, I was so glad to get back to the south. I had a conversation about cultural differences az few nights ago with a lady from California and a lady from Wisconsin. Just the way people interact is different. What people in the south call being considerate or cordial, others call beating around the bush or percieve it as sbeing disingenuos. What people in other parts of the country call being direct, people in south consider rude or brash. Sorry…this is a whole other conversation.
Seat belts are proven life savers with no down side. Additionally, if you are in an accident that could dislodge you from your seat but still keeps your car mobile, the seat belt will keep you in the drivers seat so you can gain control, thereby saving other lives other than your own. A great benefit to society.
Motorcycle helmets can restrict one’s vision and hearing, and subsequently cause accidents. The may protect a cyclist’s head, but often causes more severe spinal injuries. The only potential victim is the cyclist themselves, and everyone knows we can use some reduction in those seedy, between lanes sneaky, pass us in traffic jam, no account, no good, arrogant troublemakers anyway.
Mr NotSoNiceGuy
That motorcycle was riding between
the backed up traffic right between the lanes
you know to me, that’s an act of war
I saw him coming, I opened my door
I knocked him over, I pulled out my pistol
and I blew him away…
Guess a helmet wouldn’t have helped him much… 
[QUOTE=SnakeSpirit]
Motorcycle helmets can restrict one’s vision and hearing, and subsequently cause accidents.
[quote]
:rolleyes:
Though we’ve been over this before, there is little to no restrictions in vision in a DOT helmet. They are required to have at least 190°, maybe even more side to side vision. So even if you can see more then 190° you’re not going to see much of the helmet. That and you’re supposed to turn your head to see not just move your eyes. There is also no reduction in hearing. In the couple of times I’ve ridden without a helmet I’ve worn ear plugs because it’s too loud. I also wear ear plugs normally when I ride and can still hear more then most cagers.
:rolleyes:
Yep, my spine sure is screwed up from those couple of accidents I had. I still have not seen any evidence of this. Zero, though plenty of people still say it not one can prove it.
So you have a problem with bikers going ahead in traffic? Better never drive in Europe then, they do it all over there. Plus all those bikers get more cars off the road.
As for the OP I’ve only spent some vacation time in Myrtle Beach and I never understood why you can get fire works every where but there.
:mad: