COLUMBIA--Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, managed to postpone a vote on the primary seat belt bill Wednesday with an hour-and-a-half-long filibuster that focused on the dangers of "Big Nanny Government."

In a speech that questioned the logic used by the bill's advocates, McConnell returned again and again to the issue of personal freedoms.

He said he agrees seat belts save lives but feels such a law intrudes too far on a person's right to choose.

"It is not that I am indifferent to the loss of lives," he said. "I just have a reverence for liberty."

Senators voted to carry the issue over to today, placing the bill on the schedule with McConnell maintaining the floor.

Thursdays are typically short workdays in the General Assembly. Many senators said a vote on the seat belt bill is not likely before next week.

A primary seat belt law would allow police to stop and ticket a motorist for not wearing a seat belt.

The fine would be $25 and would go up to $40 if a child under age 18 is unrestrained.

South Carolina now has a secondary seat belt law, which allows police to ticket motorists for seat belt violations when they are pulled over for another offense.

If passed, the measure would head to the governor for final approval before becoming law.

McConnell's opposition to the bill is well documented. He has opposed the measure all along, saying its benefits are unproven.

Wednesday's speech was similar to one McConnell gave a month ago, during his first filibuster on the issue, when he compared the bill to laws that would save lives by outlawing eating in cars and smoking cigarettes.

"Where are you going to draw the line?" McConnell said Wednesday.

But the most powerful man in the Senate is dangerously close to losing this fight.

Twenty-four of 46 senators are needed to pass the measure; 22 have said they are on board with a primary seat belt law.

"We're going to win," said state Sen. John Drummond, D-Greenwood. "He's just making us wait a little while for it."

Before McConnell's speech, Drummond took the floor of the Senate and delivered a short but moving speech in which he said the issue was important enough that he left the deathbed of a friend to be in the Senate on Wednesday.

"I knew I couldn't do anything for him," he said. "But I felt like, if I was here, I could help save lives in our state."

A few minutes later, Drummond was summoned from the Senate chambers. When he returned, he informed his fellow legislators that his friend had died while he was giving his speech. He was visibly shaken.

Last year in South Carolina, 963 people died in traffic accidents, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

Of those killed, 775 had access to a seat belt but 549 were not buckled in.