Chatters, texters often go unpunished for their bad behavior behind the wheel

TAMPA - Eight states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands prohibit drivers from using hand-held phones and 30 states, plus D.C. and Guam, don’t allow text messaging behind the wheel. But Florida is one of six states that prohibit localities from enacting such laws.

So how does local law enforcement get dangerous multi-taskers off the road? ABC Action News went for a ride with Tampa Police Officer Michael Anderson to find out. He says he sees all kinds of distracted driving while patrolling Tampa’s roadways in his unmarked pick-up truck.

“I see a lot of people reading newspapers first thing in the morning,” he says. “And every now and then you'll see the texting - someone driving with their cell phone right up on the steering wheel trying to do a text.”

My photographer and I saw it too while riding around with Officer Anderson: a lot of chatty drivers, a texter and even a man reading a notebook while driving southbound on I-275.

But Officer Anderson’s hands are tied when it comes to ticketing distracted drivers because Florida has no laws against driving while distracted.

What Anderson can do is pull over aggressive drivers. In Florida, that means a driver is doing at least two of these things: Speeding, following too closely, passing improperly, failing to yield the right of way, failing to obey traffic control devices and improperly changing lanes.

The latter is what he nabbed a woman in a white SUV for. We observed as she crossed lanes of traffic on I-4 twice while engrossed in a cell phone conversation, nearly clipping Anderson’s truck in the process. After attempting to stop her once, Officer Anderson followed her off the interstate, pulled her over, and ticketed her for failing to maintain her lane, a $151 fine.