Chapter 10.05
NEW MEXICO UNIFORM TRAFFIC ORDINANCE*

Sections:

10.05.010    Short title.

10.05.020    Effect of headings.

10.05.030    Savings clause.

10.05.040    Act not retroactive.

10.05.050    Traffic code – Adopted by reference.

10.05.060    Amendments.

10.05.070    Limitations on fines – Additional fees.

10.05.080    Penalty assessment option – Payment due date – Admissibility as evidence.

10.05.090    Failure to pay penalty assessment.

*    Prior legislation: Ord. 2003-07.

10.05.010 Short title.

This chapter may be cited as the New Mexico Uniform Traffic Ordinance (UTO). [Ord. 2017-05 § 1; Ord. 2008-03 § 1]

10.05.020 Effect of headings.

Headings contained in this chapter shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify or in any manner affect the scope, meaning or intent of the provisions of this chapter. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1; Ord. 2008-03 § 2]

10.05.030 Savings clause.

If any part or parts of this chapter are held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining parts of this chapter. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1; Ord. 2008-03 § 3]

10.05.040 Act not retroactive.

This chapter does not have a retroactive effect and does not apply to any traffic accident, to any cause of action arising out of a traffic accident or judgment arising therefrom, or to any violation of the traffic ordinance of this municipality, occurring prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1; Ord. 2008-03 § 4]

10.05.050 Traffic code – Adopted by reference.

For the purpose of regulation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic within the town, pursuant to Section 3-17-6 NMSA 1978, there is adopted by reference the “New Mexico Uniform Traffic Ordinance” comprising Sections 12-1-1 through 12-13-6, containing all revisions through July 2016, and all subsequent revisions or compilations are herewith adopted by reference as the traffic code for the town of Mesilla. The traffic code will be available for inspection at the marshal’s department and town clerk’s office during regular business hours. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1; Ord. 2008-03 § 6]

10.05.060 Amendments.

The traffic code adopted by MTC 10.05.050 is altered, amended and changed as follows:

A. Amendment 1. Section 12-1-19 is amended and changed to read:

DIVISION. “Division” without further specification, “division of motor vehicles” or “motor vehicles division” means the taxation and revenue department, the secretary of taxation and revenue or any employee of the division, exercising authority lawfully delegated to that employee by the director. (66-1-4.4 NMSA 1978)

B. Amendment 2. Section 12-3-2 is amended and changed to read:

OBEDIENCE TO OFFICERS.

A. No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer or fire department officer invested by this ordinance with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic. (66-7-4 NMSA 1978)

B. It is unlawful for any person to conceal his true name or identity or to disguise himself with intent to obstruct the due execution of the law or with intent to intimidate, hinder or interrupt any public officer or any other person in a legal performance of his duty or the exercise of his rights under the laws of the United States or of this State of New Mexico. Whoever commits concealing identity is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

C. Amendment 3. Section 12-6-12.2(L) is amended and changed to read:

L. A person convicted of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs in violation of 12-6-12.1A, B, C or D shall be assessed, in addition to any other fee or fine, a fee of sixty-five dollars ($65.00) to defray the cost of chemical and other tests used to determine the influence of alcohol or drugs. Additionally, the person shall be assessed a fee of seventy-five dollars ($75.00) to fund comprehensive community programs for the prevention of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs or for other traffic safety purposes. The municipal court shall collect the fees and maintain the fees in separate funds and transfer the fees along with other funds collected by the court per 35-14-7 NMSA 1978. The municipality shall maintain the fees collected pursuant to this subsection in separate funds and transfer the fees collected pursuant to this subsection to the administrative office of the courts for credit to the crime laboratory fund and the traffic safety fund. (31-12-7 through 31-12-9 NMSA 1978)

D. Amendment 4. Section 12-6-12.3(B) is amended and changed to read:

B. Every person convicted of reckless driving shall be punished:

(1) Upon a first conviction by imprisonment for not less than five days nor more than ninety days, or by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than three hundred dollars ($300.00), or both; and

(2) On a second or subsequent conviction by imprisonment for not less than ten days nor more than ninety days, or by a fine of not less than three hundred dollars ($300.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or both. (66-8-113 NMSA, 1978)

E. Amendment 5. Section 12-6-12.6(B) is repealed in its entirety.

F. Amendment 6. Section 12-6-12.6(7) is amended and changed to read:

(7) Use or possess an altered, forged or fictitious driver’s license or permit. (66-5-18-A NMSA 1978)

G. Amendment 7. Section 12-10-3.1 is amended and changed to read:

A. The Town Clerk or designee may determine and designate those heavily traveled streets upon which shall be prohibited the use of the street by motor driven cycles, bicycles, horse-drawn vehicles or other non-motorized traffic and shall erect appropriate signs giving notice thereof.

B. The Town Clerk or designee may prohibit the operation of trucks or other commercial vehicles or may impose limitations as to the size or weight thereof on designated streets in areas which are primarily residential, which prohibitions and limitations shall be designated by appropriate signs placed on such streets.

C. When signs are erected giving notice of the restrictions, no person shall disobey the restriction stated on the signs. (*) Failure to comply with such signs is a violation of this ordinance.

H. Amendment 8. Section 12-12-1.2, Penalty Assessment Program, is amended and changed to read:

PENALTY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.

A. Any municipality may, by passage of an ordinance, establish a municipal penalty assessment program similar to that established in Section 66-8-116 NMSA 1978 for violations of provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code. Such a municipal program shall be limited to violations of municipal traffic ordinances. All penalty assessments shall be processed by the municipal court and all fines and fees collected shall be deposited in the treasury of the municipality. (66-8-130 NMSA 1978)

 

Penalty Assessment Fine Schedule
New Fines as of July 2017 

COMMON NAME OF OFFENSE	SECTION VIOLATED	PENALTY ASSESSMENT
CARELESS DRIVING	12-6-12.4	*
COMBINATION TAIL/STOP LAMPS	12-10-1.30	81
DIMMING OF LIGHTS	12-10-1.6	84
DISPLAY CURRENT LICENSE PLATE	12-10-4	94
DISPLAY CURRENT REGISTRATION	12-10-4	89
DRIVER’S LICENSE (POSSESSION OF)	12-6-12.5(A)	94
DRIVER’S LICENSE (RESTRICTIONS OF)	12-6-12.5(C)	94
DRIVER’S LICENSE (UNLAWFUL USE OF)	12-6-12.6(6)	*
DRIVING ON STREETS LANED FOR TRAFFIC	12-6-2.12	89
DUE CARE	12-6-1.2(B)	89
DUTY UPON STRIKING UNATTENDED VEHICLE	12-4-4	*
DUTY UPON STRIKING PROPERTY	12-4-5	*
EVIDENCE OF REGISTRATION	12-10-5	94
EYE PROTECTION REQUIRED	12-7-5	81
FAILURE TO SIGNAL	12-6-5.8B	94
FAILURE TO YIELD AFTER STOP	12-6-4.3B	94
FAILURE TO YIELD TO EMERGENCY VEHICLE	12-6-7.4B	104
FAILURE TO YIELD PRIVATE DRIVE	12-6-7.1A(B)	89
FAILURE TO YIELD RIGHT OF WAY	12-6-4.1A(D)	89
FICTITIOUS PLATE	12-10-4(C)	94
FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY	12-6-2.13A	89
IMPROPER BACKING	12-6-12.9A	89
IMPROPER LANE USE	12-6-2.12.1	89
IMMEDIATE NOTICE OF ACCIDENT	12-4-6A	104
LEAVING SCENE/PROPERTY DAMAGE	12-4-2	*
LIMITATION ON TURNING AROUND	12-6-5.5	89
MANDATORY FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY	12-10-6	329
MANDATORY USE OF PROTECTIVE HELMET	12-7-6	89
NO PASSING ZONE	12-6-2.7A-C,E	94
OBEDIENCE TO TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICE	12-5-3	89
OBSTRUCTION TO DRIVER’S VIEW	12-6-12.10	89
OBSTRUCTED WINDOWS	12-10-1.12A	89
OFF ROAD VEHICLES ON STREET	12-7-9.2	89
ONE WAY STREETS & ALLEYS	12-6-2.9	89
OPEN CONTAINER/POSSESS ALCOHOL IN MV	12-6-13.14	*
PARKING PROHIBITED ONE WAY STREETS	12-6-6.9	56
PARK OUTSIDE BUSINESS OR RESIDENCE	12-6-6.14	56
PARKING PROHIBITED NARROW STREET	12-6-6.8	56
PARKING PROHIBITED IN HANDICAPPED ZONE	12-9-9	Min. 250/Max. 500
PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES WHILE DRIVING	12-6-12.18	*
RACING ON STREETS	12-6-12.19A	*
RECKLESS DRIVING	12-6-12.3A	*
SCHOOL ZONE (PASSING)	12-6-2.7D	114
SEATBELTS (MANDATORY USE)	12-6-13.13	104
SEATBELTS (CHILD RESTRAINT)	12-6-13.13	104
STOP SIGN	12-6-4.3D	89
STOPPING FOR SCHOOL BUS	12-6-7.3	*
TWO TAIL LIGHTS REQUIRED	12-10-1.7A	81
TWO HEAD LIGHTS REQUIRED	12-10-1.5A	81
VEHICLE TO BE IN SAFE CONDITION	12-10-1.2	89
CONTEMPT CHARGES 1 THROUGH 7		59
**FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER OR APPEAR FOR TRIAL		529
*REQUIRES MANDATORY COURT APPEARANCE
**NEW CONTEMPT CHARGE
SPEEDING BASIC SPEED	12-6-1.1	84
Up to and including 10 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	94
From 11-15 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	119
From 16-20 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	154
From 21-25 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	179
From 26-30 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	204
From 31-35 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	204
More than 35 miles over the speed limit	12-6.1.2	254
DOUBLE THE ABOVE FINE AMOUNTS FOR SPEEDING IN A SCHOOL ZONE.

[Ord. 2017-05 § 1; Ord. 2009-06 § 1; Ord. 2008-03 § 7]

10.05.070 Limitations on fines – Additional fees.

A. There shall be assessed a penalty assessment corrections fee of $20.00 to be deposited in a special fund in the municipal treasury for use by the municipality only for municipal jail, for paying the costs of housing that municipality’s prisoners in other detention facilities in the state or complying with match or contribution requirements for the receipt of federal funds relating to jails. Such program shall be limited to violations of municipal traffic ordinances. There shall be assessed a penalty assessment judicial education fee of $3.00 to be remitted monthly to the State Treasurer for credit to the judicial education fund. There shall be assessed a penalty assessment court automation fee of $6.00 to be remitted monthly to the State Treasurer for credit to the municipal court automation fund. The total fees imposed per citation are $29.00.

B. When an alleged violator of a penalty assessment misdemeanor elects to accept a notice to appear in lieu of a notice of penalty assessment, no fine imposed upon a later conviction shall exceed the penalty assessment established for the particular penalty assessment misdemeanor. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1]

10.05.080 Penalty assessment option – Payment due date – Admissibility as evidence.

A. Unless a warning notice is given, at the time of making an arrest for any penalty assessment misdemeanor, the arresting officer shall offer the alleged violator the option of accepting a penalty assessment. The violator’s signature on the penalty assessment notice constitutes an acknowledgment of guilt of the offense stated in the notice, and payment of the prescribed penalty assessment is a complete satisfaction of the violation.

B. Payment of any penalty assessment must be made by mail or in person to the Mesilla municipal court, Mesilla, New Mexico, within 30 days from the date the penalty assessment notice was issued. Payments of penalty assessments are timely if postmarked within the 30 days.

C. No record of any penalty assessment payment is admissible as evidence in any court in any civil action. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1]

10.05.090 Failure to pay penalty assessment.

A. If a penalty assessment is not paid within 30 days from the date the penalty assessment notice is issued, the violator shall be prosecuted for the violation charged on the penalty assessment notice in a manner as if a penalty assessment notice had not been issued. Upon conviction in such prosecution, the court shall impose penalties as provided by Section 12-12-1.1 of the New Mexico Uniform Traffic Ordinance or other law relating to motor vehicles for the particular offense charged, and the schedule of penalty assessments shall not apply.

B. In addition to the prosecution provided for in subsection (A) of this section, it is a misdemeanor for any person who has elected to pay a penalty assessment to fail to do so within 30 days from the date the penalty assessment notice is issued, subjecting the violator to another prosecution in addition to the offense appearing on the penalty assessment notice.

C. The municipal court shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles of the State of New Mexico when a person fails to pay a penalty assessment within the required time period. The Department of Motor Vehicles shall report the notice upon the driver’s record and shall not renew the person’s license to drive until the Mesilla municipal court notifies the Department of Motor Vehicles that the penalty assessment or its equivalent as well as any additional penalties imposed are properly disposed of. [Ord. 2017-05 § 1]