RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; CHANGING THE DEFINITIONS OF CAMPING TRAILER, RECREATIONAL TRAVEL TRAILER AND TRAVEL TRAILER; CHANGING THE DEFINITION OF AND PROVIDING AN EXCEPTION TO WIDTH AND LOAD RESTRICTIONS FOR RECREATIONAL VEHICLES; INCREASING THE LENGTH RESTRICTION FOR MOTOR HOMES; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 66-1-4.3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 120, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:

"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;

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 motor vehicle used in commerce:

(1) if the vehicle has a declared gross vehicle weight rating of twenty-six thousand one or more pounds;

(2) if the vehicle is designed to transport sixteen or more passengers, including the driver; or

(3) if the vehicle is transporting hazardous materials and is required to be placarded pursuant to applicable 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" means the alleged violator has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has been found guilty in the trial court and has waived or exhausted all rights to an appeal;

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."

Section 2. Section 66-1-4.15 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 120, Section 16) is amended to read:

"66-1-4.15. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:

A. "railroad" means a carrier of persons or property upon cars operated upon stationary rails;

B. "railroad sign or signal" means any sign, signal or device erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train;

C. "railroad train" means a steam engine, electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operated upon rails;

D. "reconstructed vehicle" means any vehicle assembled or constructed largely by means of essential parts, new or used, derived from other vehicles or which, if originally otherwise assembled or constructed, has been materially altered by the removal of essential parts, new or used;

E. "recreational travel trailer" means a camping body designed to be drawn by another vehicle;

F. "recreational vehicle" means a vehicle with a camping body that has its own motive power, is affixed to or is drawn by another vehicle and includes motor homes, travel trailers and truck campers;

G. "registration" means registration certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of New Mexico pertaining to the registration of vehicles;

H. "registration number" means the number assigned upon registration by the division to the owner of a vehicle or motor vehicle required to be registered by the Motor Vehicle Code;

I. "registration plate" means the plate, marker, sticker or tag assigned by the division for the identification of the registered vehicle;

J. "residence district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway not comprising a business district when the property on the highway for a distance of three hundred feet or more is in the main improved with residences or residences and buildings in use for business;

K. "revocation" means that the driver's license and privilege to drive a motor vehicle on the public highways are terminated and shall not be renewed or restored, except that an application for a new license may be presented and acted upon by the division after the expiration of at least one year after date of revocation;

L. "right of way" means the privilege of the immediate use of the roadway;

M. "road tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry any significant load thereon, either independently or as any part of the weight of a vehicle or load so drawn; and

N. "roadway" means that portion of a street or highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder, and in the event a highway includes two or more separate roadways, the term "roadway" refers to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively."

Section 3. Section 66-1-4.17 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 120, Section 18, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-1-4.17. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:

A. "tank vehicle" means a motor vehicle that is designed to transport any liquid or gaseous material within a tank that is either permanently or temporarily attached to the vehicle or the chassis and that has either a gross vehicle weight rating of twenty-six thousand one or more pounds or is used in the transportation of hazardous materials requiring placarding of the vehicle under applicable law;

B. "taxicab" means a motor vehicle used for hire in the transportation of persons, having a normal seating capacity of not more than seven persons;

C. "through highway" means every highway or portion thereof at the entrance to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to stop before entering or crossing it when stop signs are erected as provided in the Motor Vehicle Code;

D. "title service company" means a person, other than the department, an agent of the department, a licensed dealer or the motor transportation division, who for consideration issues temporary registration plates or prepares and submits to the department on behalf of others applications for registration of or title to motor vehicles;

E. "traffic" means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles and other conveyances either singly or together using any highway for purposes of travel;

F. "traffic-control signal" means any device, whether manually, electrically or mechanically operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and to proceed;

G. "traffic safety bureau" means the traffic safety bureau of the state highway and transportation department;

H. "trailer" means any vehicle without motive power, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle, and so constructed that no significant part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle;

I. "transporter of manufactured homes" means a commercial motor vehicle operation engaged in the business of transporting manufactured homes from the manufacturer's location to the first dealer's location. A "transporter of manufactured homes" may or may not be associated with or affiliated with a particular manufacturer or dealer;

J. "travel trailer" means a trailer with a camping body and includes recreational travel trailers and camping trailers;

K. "trial court" means the magistrate, municipal or district court that tries the case concerning an alleged violation of a provision of the Motor Vehicle Code;

L. "truck" means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property;

M. "truck camper" means a camping body designed to be loaded onto, or affixed to, the bed or chassis of a truck. A camping body, when combined with a truck or truck cab and chassis, even though not attached permanently, becomes a part of the motor vehicle, and together they are a recreational unit to be known as a "truck camper"; there are three general types of truck campers:

(1) "slide-in camper" means a camping body designed to be loaded onto and unloaded from the bed of a pickup truck;

(2) "chassis-mount camper" means a camping body designed to be affixed to a truck cab and chassis; and

(3) "pickup cover" or "camper shell" means a camping body designed to provide an all-weather protective enclosure over the bed of a pickup truck and to be affixed thereto; and

N. "truck tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn."

Section 4. Section 66-7-402 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 35, Section 473, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-7-402. WIDTH OF VEHICLES.--The total outside width of any vehicle or its load, excepting mirrors, shall not exceed eight feet six inches. Safety devices up to three inches on either side of the vehicle and recreational vehicle appurtenances, including retracting awnings, up to six inches on either side of the vehicle are also excepted."

Section 5. Section 66-7-403 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1955, Chapter 37, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-7-403. PROJECTING LOADS ON PASSENGER VEHICLES.--No passenger-type vehicle, except a motorcycle or recreational vehicle shall be operated on any highway with any load carried thereon extending beyond the line of the fenders on the left side of the vehicle nor extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side of the vehicle."

Section 6. Section 66-7-404 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 35, Section 475, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-7-404. HEIGHT AND LENGTH OF VEHICLES AND LOADS.--

A. No vehicle shall exceed a height of fourteen feet.

B. No vehicle shall exceed a length of forty feet extreme overall dimension and no motor home shall exceed a length of forty-five feet extreme overall dimension, exclusive of front and rear bumpers, except when operated in combination with another vehicle as provided in this section. No combination of vehicles, unless otherwise exempted in this section, shall exceed an overall length of sixty-five feet, exclusive of front and rear bumpers.

C. No combination of vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than two units, except:

(1) a truck tractor and semitrailer shall be permitted to pull one trailer;

(2) a vehicle shall be permitted to pull two units, provided that the middle unit is equipped with brakes and has a weight equal to or greater than the last unit and the total combined gross weight of the towed units does not exceed the manufacturer's stated gross weight of the towing units;

(3) a double or triple saddle-mount or fifth wheel mount of vehicles in transit by driveaway-towaway methods shall be permitted;

(4) vehicles and trailers operated by or under contract for municipal refuse systems;

(5) farm trailers, implements of husbandry and fertilizer trailers operated by or under contract to a farmer or rancher in his farming or ranching operations; and

(6) as provided in Subsections D and E of this section.

D. Exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices, refrigeration units and other devices such as coupling devices, vehicles operating a truck tractor semitrailer or truck tractor semitrailer-trailer combinations on the interstate highway system and those qualifying federal aid primary system highways designated by the secretary of the United States department of transportation, pursuant to the United States Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, Public Law 97-424, Section 411, and on those highways designated by the department by rule or regulation with the concurrence of the state highway and transportation department may exceed an overall length limitation of sixty-five feet, provided that the length of the semitrailer in a truck tractor semitrailer combination does not exceed fifty-seven feet six inches and the length of the semitrailer or trailer in a truck tractor semitrailer-trailer combination does not exceed twenty-eight feet six inches. The department shall adopt rules and regulations granting reasonable access to terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs and rest and points of loading and unloading for household goods carriers to vehicles operating in combination pursuant to this subsection. As used in this subsection, "truck tractor" means a non-cargo carrying power unit designed to operate in combination with a semitrailer or trailer, except that a truck tractor and semitrailer engaged in the transportation of automobiles may transport motor vehicles on part of the truck tractor.

E. Notwithstanding any other subsection of this section, any trailer or semitrailer combination of such dimensions as those that were in actual and lawful use in this state on December 1, 1982 may be lawfully operated on the highways of this state."

HB 590

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