2023 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 66-7-369 - Child passenger restraint; enforcement.

A. A person shall not operate a passenger car, van or pickup truck in this state, except for an authorized emergency vehicle, public transportation or a school bus, unless all passengers less than eighteen years of age are properly restrained.
B. Each person less than eighteen years of age shall be properly secured in a child passenger restraint device or by a safety belt, unless all seating positions equipped with safety belts are occupied, as follows:
(1) children less than one year of age shall be properly secured in a rear-facing child passenger restraint device that meets federal standards, in the rear seat of a vehicle that is equipped with a rear seat. If the vehicle is not equipped with a rear seat, the child may ride in the front seat of the vehicle if the passenger-side air bag is deactivated or if the vehicle is not equipped with a deactivation switch for the passenger-side air bag;
(2) children one year of age through four years of age, regardless of weight, or children who weigh less than forty pounds, regardless of age, shall be properly secured in a child passenger restraint device that meets federal standards;
(3) children five years of age through six years of age, regardless of weight, or children who weigh less than sixty pounds, regardless of age, shall be properly secured in either a child booster seat or an appropriate child passenger restraint device that meets federal standards; and
(4) children seven years of age through twelve years of age shall be properly secured in a child passenger restraint device or by a seat belt.
C. A child is properly secured in an adult seat belt when the lap belt properly fits across the child's thighs and hips and not the abdomen. The shoulder strap shall cross the center of the child's chest and not the neck, allowing the child to sit all the way back against the vehicle seat with knees bent over the seat edge.
D. Failure to be secured by a child passenger restraint device, by a child booster seat or by a safety belt as required by this section shall not in any instance constitute fault or negligence and shall not limit or apportion damages.
History:
Laws 1983, ch. 252, § 2; 1985, ch. 129, § 1; 1991, ch. 192, § 7; 2001, ch. 212, § 1; 2005, ch. 298, § 1.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2005 amendment,
effective June 17, 2005, added Subsection B(3) to provide that children five years of age through six years of age regardless of weight or children sixty pounds regardless of age shall be properly secured; changed the age of children from five to seven in Subsection B(4); added Subsection C to prescribe the proper manner of securing a child in an adult seat belt; and provided in Subsection D that failure to be secured by a child booster seat shall not constitute fault or negligence or limit or apportion damages.
The 2001 amendment,
effective July 1, 2001, took material from Subsection A to create the present Subsection B, and redesignated former Subsection B as C; in Subsection A, substituted "except for" for "and not"and "all passengers less than eighteen" for "each passenger under eleven" and inserted "are properly restrained"; in Subsection B, inserted "Each person less than eighteen years of age shall be" in the introductory paragraph; in Paragraph (1), inserted "rear-facing" and substituted the language beginning "that meets federal standards" for "which meets the standards prescribed in 49 CFR 571.213"; in Paragraph (2), inserted "regardless of weight, or children who weigh less than forty pounds, regardless of age", and substituted "that meets federal standards" for "which meets the standards prescribed in 49 CFR 571.213 or in the rear seat by a safety belt provided in the motor vehicle"; and in Paragraph (3) substituted "in a child passenger restraint device or by a seat belt" for "by a safety belt provided in the motor vehicle in either the front or rear seat".
The 1991 amendment,
effective June 14, 1991, deleted "Penalty" preceding "enforcement" in the section heading; deleted former Subsection B which read "Any person who violates this section shall be issued a citation with a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00)"; and redesignated former Subsection C as Subsection B.