What kind of law costs no money, could save 100 lives a year, prevent 1,700 serious injuries a year and save millions of dollars in health care expenses?

The answer: a mandatory seat belt law, according to lawmakers and safety experts pushing to pass such a law this year.

South Carolina -- which has one of the nation's highest traffic death rates with 1,053 people killed in 2002 -- now has a weak "secondary" seat belt law. That means, in most cases, police can't ticket someone for not wearing a seat belt. A mandatory, or primary, seat belt law would allow police who see people without a seat belt to issue a ticket.

Last week, a mandatory seat belt bill went to the floor of the state Senate. It passed the S.C. House in April, where it had support from Republicans and Democrats, including the Black Caucus.

"We lawmakers have few opportunities to save lives and prevent injuries without being a financial burden to the taxpayer," said Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Richland. "This bill does that."

But some state senators say they'll try to kill the bill.

"I'm opposed to it," said Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, who objects to the bill as representing "too much government intrusion" and worries scarce police resources will be eaten up enforcing seat belt laws.

Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, is so opposed he plans to filibuster.

"It's opening Pandora's box," said Kuhn, adding the new law would give police the power to harass drivers, using the lack of a seat belt usage as a pretext to stop them. "It's basically an excuse to pull somebody over without probable cause."

'NO QUESTION ... LIVES ARE SAVED'

Studies in Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama show hundreds of lives were saved when those states passed a mandatory seat belt law, said Max Young, safety director of the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

"There's no question that when a state goes from a secondary seat belt law to a primary law, lives are saved," Young said.

That's not because police start stopping people, he said.

"Once law-abiding citizens hear about the new law, seat belt usage automatically goes up" from 8-15 percentage points, Young said.

For each percentage point that seat belt usage in South Carolina rises, he said, studies show eight lives a year are saved.

Children are especially at risk in states like South Carolina with weak seat belt laws.

National studies show when an adult driver is buckled up, children with them are buckled up 94 percent of the time. When adult drivers are unbuckled, children are only secured 34 percent of the time, said Lourie.

In South Carolina, only 67 percent of car occupants wear seat belts.

In Georgia, 79 percent wear seat belts. In North Carolina, 84 percent wear seat belts.

In Alabama, fatalities declined by more than 100 a year following passage of a mandatory seat belt law in 1999.

States with tougher seat belt laws also have far lower highway death rates than South Carolina.

In Georgia, 1.5 people die per 100 million miles of travel; in Alabama, 1.7; in North Carolina, 1.6; and in South Carolina, 2.3.

FEARS OF 'BIG BROTHER'

A broad coalition of groups is supporting a tough seat belt law, said Lourie.

They include the American Automobile Association of the Carolinas; the American Association of Retired Persons; Mothers Against Drunk Driving; the S.C. Chamber of Commerce; the S.C. Law Enforcement Officers Association; the S.C. Police Chiefs Association; the S.C., Safe Kids Coalition; the S.C. Sheriffs Association; and the S.C. Trucking Association.

It is also one issue that is backed by two groups who normally fight each other -- the S.C. Trial Lawyers Association and the S.C. Medical Association, said Lourie.

South Carolina has more than 1,000 deaths and 50,000 injuries in traffic accidents each year. About two-thirds of those who die in crashes aren't wearing seat belts. Not all who die would be saved, but many would live, said Young.

Seat-belt-law foe Kuhn said South Carolinians have a long and proud history of fighting against intrusive government regulations.

"Of all the states in the Union, we are most interested in our individual rights and liberties, and if there is going to be one state in the country that doesn't need a seat belt law, it is going to be ours," Kuhn said.

"Philosophically, we are adamantly opposed to a police state and opposed to Big Brother watching their every move," Kuhn said. "We believe in taking personal responsibility in this state."

Such views were one reason the Legislature didn't pass its first, weak seat belt law until the late 1980s. Lawmakers did so not to save lives, but to make the state eligible for federal money tied to a state having a seat belt law.

In 2001, after several years of high traffic deaths, the Legislature passed another law requiring children under 17 to wear seat belts and children 5 and under to be in safety seats.

But that law has proved difficult to enforce, and seat belt usage has not increased significantly, Young said.

State senators who say they are worried about "individual rights" also have halted police campaigns aimed at increasing seat belt use.

'RIGHT THING TO DO'

In recent years, African-American lawmakers have seen evidence that many blacks are dying because they don't wear seat belts, said state Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, chairman of the 24-member House Black Caucus.

That caused a majority of the black lawmakers -- some of whom had opposed tougher seat belt laws because of fears they could make racial profiling easier -- to support a mandatory seat belt law, Govan said.

"If we have a seat belt law, deaths go down," Govan said. However, black lawmakers will be checking to see if police abuse a mandatory seat belt law, he said.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said safety was on his mind when he voted for the mandatory seat belt law in April.

"To me, it's purely a safety issue," Wilkins said. "Having a strong seat belt law saves lives. We have one of the highest fatality rates in the country. Passing the bill was the right thing to do."