Figures released under the Official Information Act show 362 DLSOs have been issued. The orders gave people 14 days to pay before they risked losing their licence.
Out of this total, just one motorist had their licence suspended. The ministry said the person's fines were in default and they had failed to respond to the warning notice.
Ministry of Justice general manager collections Jacquelyn Shannon said the DLSOs were the only effective enforcement tool in some cases.
"For some people who owe fines, the threat of losing their licence was the only thing that prompted them to pay their fines," she said.
As a direct result of the orders, a total of $66,998 in fines had been paid and payment plans had been set up for a further $144,497. This was just a fraction of the total money owed.
Ms Shannon said a wider campaign to get people to pay their fines, which included television advertising, had netted a much larger amount.
The ministry said that in response to this campaign, about 16,000 people had paid $15 million in overdue fines.
Police have also been given powers to confiscate cars for 28 days if the driver is caught driving in breach of one of the orders. So far, this sanction has not been required.
The policy targets the worst debtors who have multiple finesor a poor record in paying off tickets.
Officials said that a number of enforcement measures were tried before a licence was suspended, such as direct payments from wages or through property seizure.
Drivers had two weeks to make arrangements to pay the fines.
They did not have to wipe out the debt in a lump sum, the ministry said, but had to start paying off some of it for the order to be cancelled.
• 11,845 warning letters sent
• 362 Driver Licence Stop Orders issued
• 1Driver Licence Stop Order served
• $66,998 fines collected
