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AN ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; PROVIDING FOR A SAFETY BELT WAIVER

PLACARD; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978; DECLARING AN

EMERGENCY.

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

Section 1. Section 66-1-4.14 NMSA 1978 (being Laws

1990, Chapter 120, Section 15, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-1-4.14. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle

Code:

A. "park" or "parking" means the standing of a

vehicle, whether occupied or not, other than temporarily for

the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading and

unloading;

B. "parking lot" means a parking area provided for

the use of patrons of any office of state or local government

or of any public accommodation, retail or commercial

establishment;

C. "parts car" means a motor vehicle generally in

nonoperable condition that is owned by a collector to furnish

parts that are usually nonobtainable from normal sources, thus

enabling a collector to preserve, restore and maintain a motor

vehicle of historic or special interest;

D. "pedestrian" means any natural person on foot;

E. "person" means a natural person, firm,

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copartnership, association, corporation or other legal entity;

F. "personal information" means information that

identifies an individual, including an individual's

photograph, social security number, driver identification

number, name, address other than zip code, telephone number

and medical or disability information, but "personal

information" does not include information on vehicles, vehicle

ownership, vehicular accidents, driving violations or driver

status;

G. "placard" or "parking placard" means a card-

like device that identifies the vehicle as being currently in

use to transport a person with severe mobility impairment and

issued pursuant to Section 66-3-16 NMSA 1978 to be displayed

inside a motor vehicle so as to be readily visible to an

observer outside the vehicle; provided that "parking placard"

does not include a safety belt waiver placard issued pursuant

to Section 66-7-372 NMSA 1978;

H. "pneumatic tire" means a tire in which

compressed air is designed to support the load;

I. "pole trailer" means any vehicle without motive

power, designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to

the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole or by being

boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle and

ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped

loads such as poles, structures, pipes and structural members

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capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between

the supporting connections;

J. "police or peace officer" means any officer

authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests

for violations of the Motor Vehicle Code;

K. "private road or driveway" means a way or place

in private ownership used for vehicular travel by the owner

and those persons having express or implied permission from

the owner, but not other persons; and

L. "property owner" means the owner of a piece of

land or the agent of that property owner."

Section 2. Section 66-1-4.16 NMSA 1978 (being Laws

1990, Chapter 120, Section 17, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-1-4.16. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle

Code:

A. "safety belt waiver placard" means a device

developed by the division that is issued pursuant to the

provisions of Section 66-7-372 NMSA 1978 to the operator of a

motor vehicle to enable law enforcement personnel to identify

a driver who has received a medical waiver from compliance

with the safety belt requirements of that section;

B. "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

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persons by objects from exterior sources or by these safety

glazing materials when they are cracked and broken;

C. "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;

D. "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 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

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certificate of title for the vehicle;

E. "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; or

(3) operated as a per capita feeder as

defined in Section 22-16-6 NMSA 1978;

F. "seal" means the official seal of the taxation

and revenue department as designated by the secretary;

G. "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;

H. "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

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that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle;

I. "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;

J. "slow-moving vehicle" means a vehicle that is

ordinarily moved, operated or driven at a speed less than

twenty-five miles per hour;

K. "solid tire" means a tire of rubber or other

resilient material that does not depend upon compressed air

for the support of the load;

L. "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;

M. "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;

N. "state" means a state, territory or possession

of the United States, the District of Columbia or a province

of the Dominion of Canada;

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O. "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;

P. "stop", when required, means complete cessation

from movement;

Q. "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;

R. "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;

S. "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

T. "suspension" means that a person's driver's

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license and privilege to drive a motor vehicle on the public

highways are temporarily withdrawn."

Section 3. Section 66-7-372 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1985,

Chapter 131, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-7-372. SAFETY BELT USE REQUIRED--EXCEPTIONS--SAFETY

BELT WAIVER PLACARD.--

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 the occupant's body

at all times when the vehicle is in motion on any street or

highway.

B. This section shall not apply to:

(1) an occupant of a motor vehicle having a

gross vehicle weight of ten thousand pounds or less who

possesses a written statement signed by a licensed physician

that the occupant of the vehicle is unable for medical reasons

to wear a safety belt;

(2) an individual who has been issued a

safety belt waiver placard by the division that is displayed

pursuant to rules of the division; or

(3) a rural letter carrier of the United

States postal service while performing the duties of a rural

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letter carrier.

C. The division shall develop:

(1) a safety belt waiver placard;

(2) rules regarding the placement of safety

belt waiver placards on vehicles; and

(3) rules regarding issuance, renewal and

replacement of lost safety belt waiver placards.

D. The division may issue a safety belt waiver

placard only to an individual who has presented to the

division a written statement signed by a licensed physician

that the individual is unable for medical reasons to wear a

safety belt.

E. A safety belt waiver placard issued pursuant to

this section shall expire on the earlier of the expiration

date of the eligible individual's motor vehicle operator's

license issued by the division or four years after issuance of

the safety belt waiver placard.

F. The division shall not issue and an individual

shall not possess more than one current safety belt waiver

placard at any time.

G. A safety belt waiver placard issued pursuant to

this section:

(1) shall be placed in a position specified

by the division that ensures that the placard is readily

visible to law enforcement officers passing or following the

vehicle driven by an individual who has been issued a safety

belt waiver placard;

(2) may be moved from one vehicle to another

for use by the driver or passenger to whom the placard is

issued;

(3) shall not be assigned to a specific

vehicle; and

(4) shall indicate that only the person to

whom the safety belt waiver placard is issued is permitted to

drive or ride as a passenger without using a safety belt.

H. The division shall:

(1) maintain records of all safety belt

waiver placards issued;

(2) maintain copies of the documentation

provided to support the need for issuance of the safety belt

waiver placard; and

(3) numerically identify for tracking and

verification purposes each safety belt waiver placard issued."

Section 4. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public

peace, health and safety that this act take effect

immediately.

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