AIKEN - South Carolina's "click it or ticket" seat belt law is getting more of a bite in just five days.

Starting Friday, police can pull over drivers just for being unbuckled - no other traffic violation necessary.

It might take drivers a while to realize that police mean business, said Sgt. David Turno, a spokesman for the Aiken Department of Public Safety.

"We expect to see an increased number of traffic stops until the public buckles up," he said.

Under the old law, police officers could ticket adult drivers for not buckling up, but only if they'd been pulled over for a separate traffic violation.

Aiken resident Jessica Miller said she approves of the new law, especially if it means children will be safer.

She said she's often seen parents "driving down the road with children bouncing around in the back seat."

Mrs. Miller said she makes her passengers buckle up, which "drives my husband nuts."

He'll have to start wearing his seat belt, too, she said.

"I'm not paying for his ticket if he gets one," Mrs. Miller said, laughing.

The tougher provisions were passed into law this past summer after Gov. Mark Sanford didn't veto the bill as expected.

South Carolina continues to have one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the country: 15th with 1,046 deaths in 2004, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, wearing a seat belt cuts by half a person's risk of dying in a traffic accident.

There have been 900 fatal crashes in South Carolina this year, killing 1,002 people, according to the highway patrol.

That's outpacing last year's fatality count, which included 845 fatal crashes that killed 936 people through Nov. 28.

Of the 787 people killed on South Carolina highways this year who had access to seat belts, 544 were not wearing them.

The Aiken County Coroner's Office said 19 people have been killed in traffic-related wrecks in the county in 2005.

Of those, nine were not wearing seat belts they could have worn.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol, as part of its "Buckle Up" campaign, has reported that the law will increase belt use by 11 percentage points.

Such an increase would mean 81 percent of those with access to seat belts would buckle up, instead of the current 70 percent, the highway patrol says.

That would save 64 lives, prevent 650 serious injuries and save $140 million in damages resulting from serious car crashes, the department reports.

Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, said half of those killed this year on state roads who weren't wearing their seat belts probably "would have survived the initial collision" if they had been.

"Initially, we think it (the law) will save lives," Mr. Gaulden said.

"It will make a difference in the number of people who die on South Carolina roads and highways."

Because December is typically a bad month for traffic fatalities - 105 people were killed in December 2004 on state roads - Mr. Gaulden said it will be interesting to see whether the law helps buck that trend this year.

"We are hopeful that it will," he said.

Reach Sandi Martin at (803) 648-1395, ext. 111, or sandi.martin@augustachronicle.com.