SANFORD --

It's the oldest driving rule in the book: Keep your eyes on the road.

But until recently, Sanford police officers had to look away -- or pull over -- to get the information they needed from their laptops about vehicles they were pursuing.

Jumping on the high-tech bandwagon that has swept much of Central Florida, Sanford is adding systems to all 55 of its patrol cars that will allow officers to hear important vehicle information from their computers even as they follow cars down the road.

"It's a very innovative program," said police spokeswoman Cleo Cohen. "Once the officer has run a tag, he no longer has to turn and look at the computer."

The system, called Virtual Partner, also eliminates the hassle of handwriting tickets. Instead, information from the vehicle tag or drivers license flows into an electronic ticket; the officer then enters the infraction and hits the print button.

Where it used to take five to 10 minutes to write a ticket, now it takes two, said Sgt. Greg Smith, supervisor of Sanford's traffic unit.

The department should finish putting in printers, the last step in the process, in the next week or two, Smith said. Installation of the system, which cost the Police Department about $74,000, was paid with state grants and law-enforcement trust fund money.

Sanford is the second-to-last city in Seminole County to implement Virtual Partner, with Oviedo still trying to make up its mind.

"The concept is something that we've looked at and are considering going to," said Oviedo police spokesman Lt. Dennis Lynch. "It depends on other budget constraints."

Altamonte Springs was the first in Seminole to receive the technology, in 2003, though it didn't go for the in-car printers. "The print that comes up on your computer when you're running tags comes up pretty small," said Lt. Dan Smutz of logistic support in Altamonte. "[Virtual Partner] gives you back a lot of info quickly without having to take your eyes off the road."

The system is also in use in Orange, Osceola and Polk counties, according to Nicole Clemens, Florida account manager for Advanced Public Safety, the Deerfield Beach company behind Virtual Partner.

Now that regular patrol cars are fully equipped, Cohen said Sanford plans to expand Virtual Partner to unmarked vehicles. It also hopes to create a more efficient system of transmitting citation records, so that information is sent automatically to the necessary agencies instead of being copied manually in a several-step process.