Broken symmetries in graphene affect the massless nature of its charge
carriers. We present an analysis of scattering by defects in graphene in the
presence of spin-orbit interactions (SOIs). A characteristic constant ratio
(≃2) of the transport to elastic times for massless electrons signals the
anisotropy of the scattering. We show that SOIs lead to a drastic decrease of
this ratio, especially at low carrier concentrations, while the scattering
becomes increasingly isotropic. As the strength of the SOI determines the
energy (carrier concentration) where this drop is more evident, this effect
could help evaluate these interactions through transport measurements in
graphene systems with enhanced spin-orbit coupling
