HONOLULU -- Honolulu police still have their eyes out for people using cell phones while driving. So far, only a handful of drivers have found ways to beat the citations.

KITV's analysis of court records shows police in early October were giving out an average of 20 cell phone tickets a day. That is even more than they were giving out during July, the first month of the ban. (Story: Who's Cited In New Cell Phone Ban?)

Out of more than 1,600 citations, only about 40 people managed to get a judge to throw out the case. However, their cases do tell us a little bit about where judges are drawing the line. For example, ever hear the phrase "ignorance of the law is no excuse?" Oh, yes it is...

"He looked at me as he turned the corner for a long time and I got a funny feeling that something was wrong," driver Cecilia Alvarado said.

That was the moment right before an officer gave Alvarado a ticket for talking on her cell phone. It was day one of the ban. She told the officer she did not know it was illegal.

"I said, 'I don't read the newspapers and don't watch TV and I only get my news through the Internet and I haven't seen it on the highway,'" Alvarado said.

Possibly one good thing about fighting a cell phone ticket is that you don't have to come to court. You can just write a letter to the judge and it is up to the judge to figure out if you have a good enough excuse.

"I was very upset I immediately went home with only one purpose in mind. I wrote the letter as soon as I got home and I mailed it the next day," Alvarado said..

Alvarado's letter, which also pointed out that she has a military background and clean driving record apparently impressed District Judge Lono Lee, who dismissed the ticket.

"I am very happy about the outcome I feel I should be grateful at the same time never again," Alvarado said.

It turned out she was not alone. Many of the 40 dismissals were for visitors like an Illinois man who had his local sheriff write a letter. They claimed their rental car companies did not tell them about the ban.

Several people who escaped the citations said the alleged phones were actually radios for work. One denied the charge "on my family's honor" and threw in a smiley face. Others, like Kapiolani Street, said the officer was wrong.

"And he said, 'Are you giving me attitude?'" Street said.

She was one of several drivers who showed their phone records to the judge.

"So, according to this (record), I couldn't have been on the phone," Street said.

Records of another phone would not have worked. The officer described her phone on the ticket and the judge was also suspicious.

"He asked me if I had another phone and I said no, and he said from the evidence I gave him that I wasn't using my phone. So, he dismissed the case," Street said.

Among the other people who got dismissed was a guy who told the judge his hands-free device required him to occasionally push a button on the phone, a couple people who said they were putting in their ear buds and one woman who said she held up the phone to check the time.

It is hard to know if all the judges will accept these examples of excuses. So far, more than 97 percent of the citations have been paid, and fewer and fewer are challenging them.