An interesting idea from the South

Everyone and his mother has had to deal with the problem of how to appropriately split the bill at a restaurant. Some people just divide everything evenly, while others look closely to see if they were charged extra or not for Diet Coke refills. But in the South (at least in South Carolina), they make all these issues moot: they just give each person a separate check. If you split an appetizer, it gets divided. If you got a drink, only you get charged for it. You can figure out exactly how much you owe.

So is this better for everyone? It takes a little bit more time for the waiters to sort out the bill (e.g. having to run 3 credit cards or make change for 2 people), but on the other hand it ends all those nasty arguments and is better at preventing people from shirking their payment responsibilities. Also, it leads to higher tips in general I would guess because people tend to round up on tips, and if 3 people round up, that's better for the waiter. This in turn would lead to slightly higher costs for each customer. But maybe it's worth it? Does anyone else have more considered thoughts? This is just my first impression.