2019 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles
Article 7 - Traffic Laws; Signs, Signals and Markings; Accidents; Weight and Size; Traffic Safety
Part 4 - TRAFFIC LAWS GENERALLY
Section 66-7-372 - Safety belt use required; exception.

A. Except as provided by Section 66-7-369 NMSA 1978 and in Subsection B of this section, each occupant of a motor vehicle having a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand pounds or less manufactured with safety belts in compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standard number 208 shall have a safety belt properly fastened about his body at all times when the vehicle is in motion on any street or highway.

B. This section shall not apply to an occupant of a motor vehicle having a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand pounds or less who possesses a written statement from a licensed physician that he is unable for medical reasons to wear a safety belt or to a rural letter carrier of the United States postal service while performing the duties of a rural letter carrier.

History: Laws 1985, ch. 131, § 3; 1989, ch. 317, § 1; 2001, ch. 191, § 1.

Cross references. — For federal motor vehicle safety standard number 208, see 49 C.F.R. § 571.208.

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, in Subsection A, deleted "front seat" preceding "occupant" and deleted "unless all seating positions equipped with safety belts are occupied" from the end of the subsection.

The 1989 amendment, effective June 16, 1989, substituted "motor vehicle having a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand pounds or less" for "passenger car" near the beginning of Subsections A and B, inserted "on any street or highway" near the end of Subsection A, and made a minor stylistic change in Subsection B.

Reasonable grounds for stopping vehicle. — Police officer who stopped defendant's vehicle because the shoulder harnesses for the driver and front seat passenger were dangling from the ceiling had reasonable grounds to stop the vehicle for violation of this section. State v. Apodaca, 1991-NMCA-048, 112 N.M. 302, 814 P.2d 1030, cert. denied, 112 N.M. 220, 813 P.2d 1018.

Police officers who stop vehicles for alleged violations of this section should not be required to know the design of the safety-belt system in every motor vehicle. State v. Apodaca, 1991-NMCA-048, 112 N.M. 302, 814 P.2d 1030, cert. denied, 112 N.M. 220, 813 P.2d 1018.

New Mexico law does not permit custodial arrest for violation of its seat belt regulation. United States v. Guzman, 864 F.2d 1512 (10th Cir. 1988).

Law reviews. — For note, "Tort Litigation The New Case for the 'Seat Belt Defense' Norwest Bank New Mexico, N.A. v. Chrysler Corporation," see 30 N.M. L. Rev. 403 (2000).