Hannah Meharry, 21, pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court to testing positive to methamphetamine within three hours of driving, driving disqualified, and failing to produce a licence and providing a false name.

The court heard Meharry was stopped for a routine check on Prouses Road in Bendigo on January 18 this year.

The court heard Meharry initially gave police a false name, but then admitted her real name.

Her learner permit was cancelled and she was disqualified from driving for 11 months in December.

An oral fluid test also revealed the presence of methamphetamine in her system.

Meharry admitted to having recently taken drugs, and said she had lost her licence.

Her reason for driving, she said, was "stupidity".

Meharry told the court she had begun working with an employment agency to find education and work, and was undertaking a drug and alcohol course.

Magistrate Patrick Southey convicted Meharry and placed her on a two-year good behaviour bond, under which she was ordered to provide evidence to the court of her ongoing engagement with the employment agency.

Mr Southey said it sounded like a lenient sentence, but a community corrections order would only replicate Meharry's work with the employment agency and she would struggle to pay a large fine due to unemployment.

Meharry was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

But Mr Southey stressed the seriousness of Meharry's offending.

"If you're caught driving, you'll probably go to jail," he said.

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