Now a parent, Pinckney said she and her children buckle up every time they get in the car.
"Today, it's a religion," she said while entering a store with two small children in tow.
A primary seat belt law that allows police to stop a car solely for a seat belt violation takes effect in the state today.
The previous law, passed by the state General Assembly in 1989, allowed police to ticket people not wearing seat belts if they were pulled over for another traffic violation.
According to the law, every occupant in the vehicle must wear a seat belt and the driver is responsible for every passenger 17 and younger who doesn't have a driver's license or permit.
Violators face a maximum $25 fine for each person not wearing a seat belt with a maximum fine of $50 per incident, according to the new law, which was passed by the legislature this year.
Drivers 17 and younger already could be pulled over solely for not wearing a seat belt under the previous law.
As of Dec. 7, 1,019 people have died on South Carolina roads this year, and about 69 percent of those who had access to seat belts weren't wearing them, according to S.C. Highway Patrol officials.
Twenty people have died in car accidents this year in Beaufort County, and there have been 31 deaths in Jasper County, according to Highway Patrol statistics.
An officer may only stop a driver if there is "a clear and unobstructed view" of an occupant not wearing a seat belt, according to the Department of Public Safety's Web site.
"You've got to be able to say without a doubt the person is not wearing a seat belt," Beaufort Police Department Deputy Chief Matt Clancy said Thursday.
If the officer isn't sure, the driver shouldn't be pulled over, he said.
Under the law, police aren't allowed to set up checkpoints or campaigns specifically targeting seat belt violators.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said deputies will enforce the law consistently and fairly but added that he has some issues with the law.
"What part I agree with is the fact the law is designed to reduce the amount of injuries and deaths," he said. "But I also see how it's going to be debated" because of the difficulty in determining whether someone's wearing a seat belt.
Occupants should wear seat belts the way in which they were designed for the vehicle, so lap-belts, which are hard to see from the road, are legal to wear, Tanner said. Colors of seat belts and tinted windows also will make it difficult to enforce, he said.
State Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, said he sees how the law's enforcement can be subjective, and he said the legislature will wait a year or so to see how law enforcement handles it.
"Any time we can do something to save lives, it's worth the aggravation," he said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the change in the law will lead to 11-percentage point increase in the number of South Carolinians wearing seat belts, which is at about 70 percent now. The projected rise in seat belt use could prevent about 64 fatalities, 650 serious injuries and save about $140 million annually in economic costs, according to the administration.
Though he doesn't think the fine will be a deterrent, Richardson said the law will be effective.
"More than anything, it'll be a consciousness thing," he said. "We are so independent (in South Carolina) -- we can't even pass a helmet law."