County cracks down on use of electric devices

By Ruben Lowman

If you’ve noticed an influx of unique, battery-powered seated wheels humming through your neighborhood lately, you aren’t alone, and county leaders have officially seen enough to step in.

Moving to address a sharp rise in local traffic concerns, the Horry County Council formally adopted Ordinance No. 31-2026, which draws a hard legal line around the operation of Personal Electric Devices (PEDs) across all unincorporated portions of the county, establishing strict rules of the road for a rapidly growing category of transit that has previously operated in a legal gray area.

The county’s primary target with this ordinance is a very specific type of machinery, electric-powered, seated wheeled devices.

To keep things clear for local commuters, county planners have explicitly carved out several common vehicles that will not fall under these new rules. Standard medical mobility scooters, standing electric scooters, e-bikes, traditional mopeds and golf carts are all completely exempt, leaving the focus entirely on the custom seated electric gadgets that have recently flooded suburban pavement.

Under the newly minted guidelines, the boundaries of where these devices can legally operate have shrunk significantly. Riders are now entirely banned from taking their seated electric devices onto any public sidewalk, county-owned property or any roadway featuring a posted speed limit higher than 20 mph.

Instead, operators must keep their wheels strictly confined to low-speed neighborhood streets under the 20 mph threshold, though the county will allow them to use public crosswalks and intersections when actively transitioning from one side of a road to the other.

Beyond zoning restrictions, the ordinance lays out a comprehensive code of safety conduct designed to mirror traditional traffic laws. Drivers are forbidden from carrying more passengers than the device was manufactured to hold, and a zero-tolerance policy has been enacted regarding distracted riding—meaning no texting or handling cellphones while in motion.

Furthermore, riders must operate as close to the right side of the road as possible, signal their turns, yield to all pedestrians, and make sure their rigs are equipped with a front headlamp and a rear red reflector if they plan on riding between sunset and sunrise.