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HOUSE BILL 314
57TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 2025
INTRODUCED BY
Angelita Mejia and Dayan Hochman-Vigil
AN ACT
RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; ALLOWING A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
OR DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYEE TO MOVE A HAZARD.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 66-3-852 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1953,
Chapter 139, Section 158.1) is amended to read:
"66-3-852. STOPPED VEHICLES NOT TO INTERFERE WITH OTHER
TRAFFIC.--
A. No motor vehicle shall be stopped, parked or
left standing, whether attended or unattended, upon the
traveled portion of any highway outside of a business or
residence district when it is practicable to stop, park or
leave [such] the vehicle off the traveled portion of the
highway. In the event that conditions make it impracticable to
move [such] the motor vehicle from the traveled portion of the
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highway, the driver shall make every effort to leave all
possible width of the highway opposite the standing vehicle for
the free passage of other vehicles, and [he ] the driver shall
take care to provide a clear view of the standing vehicle as
far as possible to the front and rear.
B. When a law enforcement officer or department of
transportation employee finds a motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo
or debris, attended or unattended, standing upon any portion of
a roadway or a highway right of way in such a manner as to
constitute an immediate public safety hazard, the officer or
department of transportation employee may move the motor
vehicle, vehicle, cargo or debris off the roadway or move the
obstruction that constituted an immediate public safety hazard
within the highway right of way so the motor vehicle, vehicle,
cargo or debris is no longer an immediate public safety hazard.
C. The state, a county, a municipality or a law
enforcement officer, a department of transportation employee or
anyone acting under the direction of the officer or employee
shall not be liable for any damage to a motor vehicle, vehicle,
cargo or debris occasioned by the removal of the obstruction
that constituted an immediate public safety hazard.
D. As used in this section, "law enforcement
officer" means a state or municipal police officer, county
sheriff, deputy sheriff, public safety aide or other state
employee authorized by state law to enforce criminal statutes. "
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