N.M. Stat. » Chapter 66 — Motor Vehicles
New Mexico Statutes

N.M. Stat. § 66-7-305 (2026)

Minimum speed regulation

✓ laws through the 2025 session (retrieved May 2026)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NM-LEGnmonesource.com JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

A. A person shall not drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or to be in compliance with law.

B. Whenever the state transportation commission or local authorities within their respective jurisdictions determine on the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that slow speeds on any part of a highway consistently impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, the commission or the local authority may determine and declare a minimum speed limit below which no person shall drive a vehicle except when necessary for safe operation or to be in compliance with law; provided that local authorities in municipalities of more than one hundred thousand population may prohibit vehicles that by virtue of weight or design are slow moving on local arterials during peak hours of traffic.

History: 1953 Comp., § 64-7-305, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 409; 2003, ch. 142, § 15.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For the penalty assessment for violation, see 66-8-116 NMSA 1978.

The 2003 amendment, effective July 1, 2003, substituted "transportation commission" for "highway commission" in Subsection B.

Traffic stop was justified. — Police officer had probable cause to stop defendant for impeding traffic where defendant was traveling 35 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone while occupying the inside traffic lane. State v. Mann, 1985-NMCA-107, 103 N.M. 660, 712 P.2d 6, cert. denied, 103 N.M. 740, 713 P.2d 556 (1986). Traffic stop not justified. — Police officer lacked probable cause to stop defendant for impeding traffic where defendant was traveling 45 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. U.S. v. Valadez-Valadez, 525 F.3d 987 (10th cir. 2008).

Violation is proper question for jury. — Violations of Section 64-18-4, 1953 Comp. (similar to this section) (driving so slow as to impede traffic), 64-18-49, 1953 Comp. (similar to Section 66-7-349 NMSA 1978) (stopping on a highway) and 66-7-318 A NMSA 1978 (following too closely), which were enacted for the benefit of the public, were proper questions for jury. Archuleta v. Johnston, 1971-NMCA-158, 83 N.M. 380, 492 P.2d 997, cert. denied, 83 N.M. 379, 492 P.2d 996.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — Civil cases involving law against slow speed, 66 A.L.R.2d 1194.

61A C.J.S. Motor Vehicles § 588.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1985–2012 · leading case: State v. Neal, 2008-NMCA-008, 176 P.3d 330.
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
State v. Neal, 2008-NMCA-008, 176 P.3d 330. · cites it 2× “BACKGROUND {2} Defendant was charged in magistrate court on November 4, 2005, with aggravated DWI, contrary to NMSA 1978, § 66-8-102 (2005) (amended 2007), failure to maintain a traffic lane, contrary to NMSA 1978, § 66-7-317 (1978), and impeding traffic, contrary to NMSA 1978,…”
State v. Mann, 712 P.2d 6 (N.M. Ct. App. 1985). · cites it 4× “After defendant was booked into jail, Officer Baiers issued him a ticket for impeding traffic by driving too slowly, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 66-7-305(A). Following defendant’s detention, Baiers secured a search warrant from a magistrate and conducted a further search of…”
United States v. Valadez-Valadez, 525 F.3d 987 (10th Cir. 2008). · cites it 3× “The citation was for a violation of N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-7-305 (A) (2003), which prohibits impeding traffic.”
State v. Filfred, No. 31,380 (N.M. Ct. App. Feb. 16, 2012). “See NMSA 8 1978, § 66-7-305(A) (2003) (stating that “[a] person shall not drive a motor vehicle 9 at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic 10 except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or to be in compliance with 11 law”).”
N.M. Stat. § 66-7-305(A): 2 cases
State v. Mann, 712 P.2d 6 (N.M. Ct. App. 1985). “After defendant was booked into jail, Officer Baiers issued him a ticket for impeding traffic by driving too slowly, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 66-7-305(A). Following defendant’s detention, Baiers secured a search warrant from a magistrate and conducted a further search of…”
State v. Filfred, No. 31,380 (N.M. Ct. App. Feb. 16, 2012). “See NMSA 8 1978, § 66-7-305(A) (2003) (stating that “[a] person shall not drive a motor vehicle 9 at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic 10 except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or to be in compliance with 11 law”).”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.