2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles › Article 3 - Registration Laws; Security Interests; Anti-Theft Provisions; Bicycles; Equipment; Unsafe Vehicles; Off-Highway Motor Vehicles; Other Vehicles › Part 10 - UNSAFE VEHICLES › Section 66-3-901 - Vehicles without required equipment or in unsafe condition.

A. A person shall not drive or move on any highway any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer or pole trailer or any combination thereof unless the equipment upon every vehicle is in good working order and adjustment as required in the Motor Vehicle Code and the vehicle is in such safe mechanical condition as not to endanger the driver or other occupant or any person upon the highway.
B. A person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a penalty assessment misdemeanor.
History:
1953 Comp., § 64-3-901, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 194; 1985, ch. 46, § 1; 2018, ch. 74, § 34.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2018 amendment,
effective July 1, 2018, provided a penalty for a violation of this section, and made technical changes; added new subsection designation "A."; and added Subsection B.
Presumption owner knew or should have known brakes were defective.
— That appellee knew or should have known of the defective condition of his brakes is presumed in the first instance, and the appellee has the burden of proving lack of knowledge as a reasonable man as a defense which would relieve him of the responsibility placed upon him by the statute.
Ferran v. Jacquez
, 1961-NMSC-072, 68 N.M. 367, 362 P.2d 519.
"Good working order" construed.
— Where defendant was charged with driving while intoxicated following a traffic stop based on a defective tail lamp, and where, at trial, the law enforcement officer testified that defendant's right tail lamp was "working properly" but the large upper bulb in the left tail lamp was not illuminated, and where defendant argued that the officer did not have a reasonable suspicion to stop him because the facts and circumstances of the case did not support a conclusion that he was breaking the law or had broken the law at the time he was stopped, rendering the stop unconstitutional and the resulting evidence inadmissible, the New Mexico supreme court concluded that the "good working order" requirement set out in § 66-3-901 NMSA 1978 does not require equipment to function one hundred percent perfectly if it is suitable or functioning for its intended use, and that tail lamps do not violate § 66-3-901 when they comply with the specific statutory equipment requirements set out in §§ 66-3-801 through 66-3-888 NMSA 1978.
State v. Farish
, 2021-NMSC-030,
rev'g
2018-NMCA-003, 410 P.3d 239.
Law reviews.
— For article, "Transmogrification: State and Federal Regulation of Automotive Air Pollution," see 13 Nat. Resources J. 448 (1973).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— 7A Am. Jur. 2d Automobiles and Highway Traffic §§ 202, 779.
60 C.J.S. Motor Vehicles § 26; 60A C.J.S. Motor Vehicles § 260.
Validity of routine roadblock by state or local policy for purposes of discovery of driver's license, registration, and safety violations. 116 A.L.R.5th 479.
Authority of public official, whose duties or functions generally do not entail traffic stops, to effectuate traffic stop of vehicle. 18 A.L.R.6th 519.