2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles
Article 1 - General Provisions
Section 66-1-4.16 - Definitions.

As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:

A. "safety glazing materials" means glazing materials constructed, treated or combined with other materials to reduce substantially, in comparison with ordinary sheet glass or plate glass, the likelihood of injury to persons by objects from exterior sources or by these safety glazing materials when they are cracked and broken;

B. "safety zone" means the area or space that is officially set apart within a highway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and that is protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone;

C. "salvage vehicle" means a vehicle:

(1) other than a nonrepairable vehicle, of a type subject to registration that has been wrecked, destroyed or damaged excluding, pursuant to rules issued by the department, hail damage, to the extent that the owner, leasing company, financial institution or the insurance company that insured or is responsible for repair of the vehicle considers it uneconomical to repair the vehicle and that is subsequently not repaired by or for the person who owned the vehicle at the time of the event resulting in damage; or

(2) that was determined to be uneconomical to repair and for which a total loss payment is made by an insurer, whether or not the vehicle is subsequently repaired, if, prior to or upon making payment to the claimant, the insurer obtained the agreement of the claimant to the amount of the total loss settlement and informed the claimant that, pursuant to rules of the department, the title must be branded and submitted to the department for issuance of a salvage certificate of title for the vehicle;

D. "school bus" means a commercial motor vehicle used to transport preprimary, primary or secondary school students from home to school, from school to home or to and from school-sponsored events, but not including a vehicle:

(1) operated by a common carrier, subject to and meeting all requirements of the public regulation commission but not used exclusively for the transportation of students;

(2) operated solely by a government-owned transit authority, if the transit authority meets all safety requirements of the public regulation commission but is not used exclusively for the transportation of students;

(3) operated as a per capita feeder as provided in Section 22-16-6 NMSA 1978; or

(4) that is a minimum six-passenger, full-size, extended-length, sport utility vehicle operated by a school district employee pursuant to Subsection D of Section 22-16-4 NMSA 1978;

E. "seal" means the official seal of the taxation and revenue department as designated by the secretary;

F. "secretary" means the secretary of taxation and revenue, and, except for the purposes of Sections 66-2-3 and 66-2-12 NMSA 1978, also includes the deputy secretary and any division director delegated by the secretary;

G. "semitrailer" means a vehicle without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some significant part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle;

H. "sidewalk" means a portion of street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for the use of pedestrians;

I. "slow-moving vehicle" means a vehicle that is ordinarily moved, operated or driven at a speed less than twenty-five miles per hour;

J. "solid tire" means every tire of rubber or other resilient material that does not depend upon compressed air for the support of the load;

K. "special mobile equipment" means a vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the highways, including but not limited to farm tractors, road construction or maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, well-boring apparatus and concrete mixers;

L. "specially constructed vehicle" means a vehicle of a type required to be registered under the Motor Vehicle Code not originally constructed under a distinctive name, make, model or type by a generally recognized manufacturer of vehicles and not materially altered from its original construction;

M. "standard driver's license" means a license or a class of license issued by a state or other jurisdiction recognized by the laws of New Mexico that authorizes the holder to operate motor vehicles and is not guaranteed to be accepted by federal agencies for official federal purposes;

N. "standard identification card" means an identification card that is not guaranteed to be accepted by federal agencies for official federal purposes;

O. "state" means a state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or any state of the Republic of Mexico or the Federal District of Mexico or a province of the Dominion of Canada;

P. "state highway" means a public highway that has been designated as a state highway by the legislature, the state transportation commission or the secretary of transportation;

Q. "stop", when required, means complete cessation from movement;

R. "stop, stopping or standing", when prohibited, means any stopping or standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control sign or signal;

S. "street" or "highway" means a way or place generally open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purpose of vehicular travel, even though it may be temporarily closed or restricted for the purpose of construction, maintenance, repair or reconstruction;

T. "subsequent offender" means a person who was previously a first offender and who again, under state law, federal law or a municipal ordinance or a tribal law, has been adjudicated guilty of the charge of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug that rendered the person incapable of safely driving a motor vehicle, regardless of whether the person's sentence was suspended or deferred; and

U. "suspension" means that a person's driver's license and privilege to drive a motor vehicle on the public highways are temporarily withdrawn.

History: 1978 Comp., § 66-1-4.16, enacted by Laws 1990, ch. 120, § 17; 1991, ch. 160, § 4; 2003, ch. 142, § 7; 2003, ch. 164, § 2; 2004, ch. 59, § 3; 2005, ch. 324, § 4; 2007, ch. 321, § 2; 2017, ch. 94, § 2; 2019, ch. 167, § 5.

The 2019 amendment, effective October 1, 2019, defined "standard driver's license" and "standard identification card" as used in the Motor Vehicle Code; and added new Subsections M and N.

The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, excluded from the definition of "school bus" a six-passenger sport utility vehicle operated by a school district employee used for the purposes of transporting certain students to and from school; in Subsection D, Paragraph D(3), after "feeder as", deleted "defined" and added "provided"; and added Paragraph D(4).

The 2007 amendment, effective April 2, 2007, defined state to include any state of the Republic of Mexico or the Federal District of Mexico.

The 2005 amendment, effective January 1, 2006, added Subsections C(1) and (2) to define "salvage vehicle".

Salvage vehicle defined. — A vehicle is a salvage vehicle when an insurer, or other relevant actor determines that it would be economically wasteful to repair a vehicle that has been wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, even if the cost of repairing the vehicle is less than the fair market value of the vehicle. Pedroza v. Lomas Auto Mall, 600 F.Supp.2d 1173 (D. N.M. 2009).

Mole. — The "mole" which is a piece of equipment weighing 100 tons and which is used to move employees and supplies in and out of a tunnel under construction and to remove excavated material out of the tunnel was not special equipment, nor does it come within the general descriptive terms of the definition of special mobile equipment. Gibbons & Reed Co. v. Bureau of Revenue, 1969-NMSC-096, 80 N.M. 462, 457 P.2d 710.

Preproduction machine not incidentally moved over highways. — Specialized equipment necessary to perform certain preproduction operations at wells which was bolted to the frame of a vehicle's chassis and permanently mounted for the purpose of carrying that equipment to and from drilling sites over the highways was not incidentally moved over the highways, and was not special mobile equipment. Halliburton Co. v. Prop. Appraisal Dep't, 1975-NMCA-123, 88 N.M. 476, 542 P.2d 56.

Well servicing unit permanently attached to a truck. — A large well servicing unit was permanently attached to the chassis of the truck. It was made up of an engine to drive the unit and extendable metal arms used to drill into the well hole. Very little room existed on the truck bed for other items which could be hauled. The cab of the truck was large enough to carry three to four people and to haul items of property. No impediments existed which would restrain the truck's use on the public highways. It did not qualify as a special mobile equipment vehicle under the exemption to vehicle registration. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-27.

Definition of "school bus" may be used in other enactments. — It would not be unreasonable for the corporation commission (now public regulation commission) to look to the legislature's definition of the term "school bus" in the former Motor Vehicle Act for a guide to interpreting the exemption provided in the Motor Carrier Act (see now Section 65-2-126 NMSA 1978). 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-110.

Well servicing unit. — While it is true that a "well servicing unit" is not included in the statutory definition of special mobile equipment, it would appear that the unit was designed solely and exclusively for the purpose of transporting the particular machinery for which it is designed and for the accommodation of driver for the same. It is not designed primarily for the transportation of persons or property save as an incident of its use at an appropriate location. A well servicing unit is within the general terms of "special mobile equipment." 1958 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 58-115.

Cable spool carrier. — A two wheeled piece of equipment, hitched to a pickup, which tows it, which has no floor, is structured from pipe lengths, is about four feet in height, carries a spool of cable, is never on a public highway except when it is moved from one job to another, the primary purpose being to provide a platform from which the cable is unrolled, is a special mobile equipment vehicle. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-148.

Motor vehicle hauling exceptional loads over roads. — A special motor vehicle rented by a New Mexico firm from an Arizona company and used to haul an exceptional load over New Mexico roads was not "special mobile equipment," despite the fact that it was not normally used for transportation of property over highways. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-95.