Despite the fact that New Mexico is statistically one of the nation’s more dangerous states to drive in, the state legislature dragged its feet in prohibiting dangerous uses of mobile electronic devices. New Mexico has now caught up with the rest of the country in this regard, although critics of the law say that the fines are not high enough to deter many distracted drivers.
Distracted Driving Restrictions
In 2014 New Mexico became the 42nd state to ban texting while driving. New Mexico also bans talking on hand-held cell phones for in-state drivers only. Novice drivers (under 18 and driving on a learner’s permit or intermediate license) may not use any type of cell phone, even hands-free models such as speakerphones. A “911 exception” applies to all of these restrictions. The penalty is only $25 for a first offense and $50 for a second offense.
In the Event of an Accident
People who use mobile electronic devices generally don’t plan on getting into an accident. If they did, they would likely think twice, not only because of the possibility of injury or death, but also because of the potentially disastrous financial consequences of an injury accident caused by their illegal behavior.
Suppose that you are driving down the highway sending a text message, and you rear-end the car in front of you. The other driver is seriously injured and files a lawsuit against you, and public cell phone records show that a text message was sent from your phone the moment before the accident.
The other driver could likely have the court find that you were negligent (careless) because you were violating a safety statute at the time of the accident. At that point, all the other driver would have to do to win damages from you is to show that your act of texting was at least a substantial factor in causing the accident.
Suppose that in the same case you prove that the other driver braked suddenly, and the court rules that the accident was 30 percent your fault and 70 percent the other driver’s fault. Under New Mexico’s “pure comparative fault” standard, you would have to pay 30 percent of the other driver’s damages, and he would have to pay 70 percent of your damages. You could still come out with a net loss if his damages were a lot higher than yours were ($1,000 in property damage vs. $20,000 in property damage and medical bills, for example).
Possible Criminal Penalties
New Mexico distinguishes between “ordinary negligence” (which could bankrupt you) and “criminal negligence” (which could imprison you). Under New Mexico law, criminal negligence involves the failure to perceive a substantial risk of great harm, when this failure represents a wide deviation from the conduct of a hypothetical “reasonable” driver. It is the magnitude of the risk more than any other factor that separates ordinary negligence from criminal negligence. You are likely to be convicted of a crime based on your violation of New Mexico’s distracted driving law only if death or serious injury results.
– Updated through September 1, 2016