A magistrate has lambasted the ACT government's fine enforcement methods as ''a sledgehammer approach'' creating injustices in the territory's courts.
And Magistrate Peter Dingwall also criticised mandatory driving bans for traffic offenders, arguing ''one size doesn't fit all''.
The magistrate made the comments in the case of an Evatt man pulled over in September, a few weeks after his licence was suspended, driving to the shops for a meal.
Mr Dingwall said driving while suspended was becoming an increasingly prevalent charge because authorities were relying on suspensions to chase unpaid fines.
''It is becoming quite common in our community; it is becoming quite common because there's this device used by the executive to recover fines,'' he said.
''It's a sledgehammer approach.''
''I don't know if the legislature thinks it's a good thing, I don't know if the community thinks it's a good thing ... it's creating a lot of injustice.''
According to a statement of facts police stopped the driver, Aaron Milton Smith, on Coulter Drive in Belconnen.
Defence lawyer Andrew Fraser, from Rachel Bird and Co, said his 25-year-old client made a spur of the moment decision to drive to the shops for a takeaway meal.
When police told Smith his licence was suspended the man replied, ''I knew I was close on points.'' But the court heard Smith, who had been driving for eight years and had no previous convictions, was fully aware his licence was suspended.
Under territory law, the offence of driving while disqualified carries an automatic disqualification period of 12 months.
Mr Dingwall adjourned the matter for three months, during which Smith's licence will remain disqualified. The magistrate flagged an intention to hand down a non-conviction order at the end of the three months, which will avoid an automatic mandatory sentence.
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