Honolulu police officers continue to issue tickets to drivers caught using hand-held cell phones on Oahu, with close to 500 citations issued between late September and Oct. 17.

That's in addition to the nearly 1,200 tickets handed out between July 1, when a new law banning cell phone use while driving went into effect, and Sept. 27, when police began a new campaign aimed at drivers who continued to use the devices.

The law calls for a fine of $67 for the first offense and up to $500 for repeated offenses.

Maj. Thomas Nitta, who heads the Honolulu Police Department's Traffic Division, has said police officers would prefer not to hand out tickets to drivers caught using hand-held cell phones.

Police felt a second increased enforcement effort to tag offending drivers was needed based on the number of drivers who were spotted using cell phones even after the ban had been in effect for more than two months.

Nitta said that in other cities where cell phone bans were enacted, a large percentage of drivers complied initially, only to have a small portion of drivers resume using hand-held phones a couple of weeks later.

During the initial enforcement effort to ticket violators, the bulk of the citations were issued in the central Honolulu area, probably because of the greater concentration of traffic there and a higher number of officers to spot violators, police said.

The increased enforcement effort will continue "as needed," police said.