2019 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles
Article 1 - General Provisions
Section 66-1-4.3 - Definitions.

As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:

A. "camping body" means a vehicle body primarily designed or converted for use as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel activities excluding recreational vehicles unless used in commerce;

B. "camping trailer" means a camping body, mounted on a chassis, or frame with wheels, designed to be drawn by another vehicle and that has collapsible partial side walls that fold for towing and unfold at the campsite;

C. "cancellation" means that a driver's license is annulled and terminated because of some error or defect or because the licensee is no longer entitled to the license, but cancellation of a license is without prejudice, and application for a new license may be made at any time after cancellation;

D. "casual sale" means the sale of a motor vehicle by the registered owner of the vehicle if the owner has not sold more than four vehicles in that calendar year;

E. "chassis" means the complete motor vehicle, including standard factory equipment, exclusive of the body and cab;

F. "collector" means a person who is the owner of one or more vehicles of historic or special interest who collects, purchases, acquires, trades or disposes of these vehicles or parts thereof for the person's own use in order to preserve, restore and maintain a similar vehicle for hobby purposes;

G. "combination" means any connected assemblage of a motor vehicle and one or more semitrailers, trailers or semitrailers converted to trailers by means of a converter gear;

H. "combination gross vehicle weight" means the sum total of the gross vehicle weights of all units of a combination;

I. "commerce" means the transportation of persons, property or merchandise for hire, compensation, profit or in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise in this state or between New Mexico and a place outside New Mexico, including a place outside the United States;

J. "commercial motor vehicle" means a self-propelled or towed vehicle, other than special mobile equipment, used on public highways in commerce to transport passengers or property when the vehicle:

(1) is operated interstate and has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating, or gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight, of four thousand five hundred thirty-six kilograms, or ten thousand one pounds or more; or is operated only in intrastate commerce and has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating, or gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight, of twenty-six thousand one or more pounds;

(2) is designed or used to transport more than eight passengers, including the driver, and is used to transport passengers for compensation;

(3) is designed or used to transport sixteen or more passengers, including the driver, and is not used to transport passengers for compensation; or

(4) is used to transport hazardous materials of the type or quantity requiring placarding under rules prescribed by applicable federal or state law;

K. "controlled-access highway" means every highway, street or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the highway, street or roadway except at those points only and in the manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over the highway, street or roadway;

L. "controlled substance" means any substance defined in Section 30-31-2 NMSA 1978 as a controlled substance;

M. "converter gear" means any assemblage of one or more axles with a fifth wheel mounted thereon, designed for use in a combination to support the front end of a semitrailer but not permanently attached thereto. A converter gear shall not be considered a vehicle, as that term is defined in Section 66-1-4.19 NMSA 1978, but weight attributable thereto shall be included in declared gross weight;

N. "conviction":

(1) means:

(a) a finding of guilt in the trial court in regard to which the violator has waived or exhausted all rights to appeal;

(b) a plea of guilty or nolo contendere accepted by the court;

(c) an unvacated forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure a person's appearance in court; or

(d) the promise to mail a payment on a penalty assessment; and

(2) does not include a conditional discharge as provided in Section 31-20-13 NMSA 1978 or a deferred sentence when the terms of the deferred sentence are met;

O. "crosswalk" means:

(1) that part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway; and

(2) any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface; and

P. "curb cut" means a short ramp through a curb or built up to the curb.

History: 1978 Comp., § 66-1-4.3, enacted by Laws 1990, ch. 120, § 4; 1998, ch. 34, § 1; 2001, ch. 127, § 1; 2003, ch. 10, § 3; 2005, ch. 312, § 1; 2007, ch. 321, § 1; 2009, ch. 200, § 3.

The 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, in Subsection A, after "travel activities", added the remainder of the sentence; in Subsection N, deleted the former definition of "conviction"; added Subparagraphs (a) through (d) of Paragraph (1) of Subsection N; and added Paragraph (2) of Subsection N.

The 2007 amendment, effective April 2, 2007, amended Subsection N to delete from the definition of "conviction" the requirement that a person with a commercial drivers license be found by an authorized administrative tribunal to be guilty of a violation of the Implied Consent Act and to add Paragraph (6) to include within the definition of "conviction" an assignment to a diversion program or a driver improvement program.

The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, deleted the former definition of "conviction" in Subsection N to mean the violator has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has been found guilty in a trial court and has waived or exhausted all rights of appeal and added the definition of "conviction" in Subsections N(1) through (6).

The 2003 amendment, effective July 1, 2003, rewrote Subsection J.

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, deleted "that exceeds neither eight feet in width nor forty feet in length" following "camping body" from Subsection B.

The 1998 amendment, effective July 1, 1998, deleted Subsection E, relating to certified motor vehicle liability policy, redesignated the remaining subsections accordingly, and, in Subsection N, inserted "has".