Safety advocates are celebrating the fact that the South Carolina Senate passed a primary enforcement seat belt bill Wednesday after years of trying. But is the bill tough enough to do what's intended, which is to get people to buckle up?

It allows police to pull over someone who's not buckled up. Right now, they can issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt only if they pull over a driver for another violation first.

The original fine in the bill was $25. Senators amended that to just $12.50, but would allow court costs and local fees to be added, raising the fine to $49.90.

Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, is a former police officer who fought the bill because he thinks the fine is too small. "It really is not going to be anything but a nuisance for people that get stopped with a seat belt violation," he says. "We've got to get real up here. And we've got to start passing laws that have teeth in 'em if you're going to pass a law."

But Sen. Greg Ryberg, the chairman of the Senate Transportation committee and a main advocate of the bill, says the fine is big enough to do some good.

"Oh, I think it is," he says. "I think it's not the fine. I don't think we're out there about collecting money. We're about saving lives. And now an officer, if he sees with an unobstructed view that somebody doesn't have a seat belt on, he can pull 'em over. And I would hope that in certain cases, he may not write the ticket. It's not about raising money. It's about saving lives."

One reason that lawmakers didn't make the fine larger was concern that some towns might use it as a cash cow, having its officers write as many seat-belt tickets as possible to bring in money.

And the fine is not low compared to our neighbors, both of which already have primary seat belt enforcement. In Georgia, the fine is just $15. In North Carolina, it's $25 plus $50 court costs.

Gov. Mark Sanford has not said where he stands on the issue. But his spokesman says the governor does have reservations about whether the bill would do what it's intended to do, get people to buckle up.