An adult driver is temporarily stopped at a red light in New Hampshire and wants to read a nonemergency text on a handheld phone. Which rule applies?
Correct answer: The handheld-device prohibition still applies during this traffic stop.
Section 265:79-c I(a) includes momentary traffic delays, including a traffic-control stop. Its emergency-reporting exception does not cover this ordinary text.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:79-c I(a) and II(a), reader lines 797 and 801; history line 817, operative amendments effective May 27 and June 3, 2016; future January 1, 2027 penalty amendment not scored. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
An adult wants to type a nonemergency message on a handheld phone. Which situation falls outside the definition of driving used by New Hampshire’s device prohibition?
Correct answer: Pulling to the side of or off the road at a lawful location and remaining stationary.
Section 265:79-c I(b) excludes this lawful, stationary pull-over from its definition of driving. A temporary traffic stop is different, and this provision does not make an illegal stopping location lawful.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:79-c I(a)–(b), reader lines 797–799; history line 817, operative amendments effective May 27 and June 3, 2016; future January 1, 2027 penalties excluded. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
An adult driver plans to use a hands-free phone connection in New Hampshire. Which condition is part of the statutory hands-free exception?
Correct answer: The use must not require diverting attention from the road ahead.
Section 265:79-c II(c) retains the attention-to-road condition. Its definition distinguishes briefly activating a function from using a handheld device to communicate or manually enter information; hands-free equipment does not eliminate distraction risk.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:79-c I(a) and II(c), reader lines 797 and 803–804; history line 817, operative amendments effective May 27 and June 3, 2016; future January 1, 2027 penalties excluded. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
A 17-year-old is driving and wants to make a hands-free social call, not report an emergency. Does New Hampshire’s adult hands-free exception allow this call?
Correct answer: No. The under-18 restriction covers ordinary calls even when hands-free.
Section 265:79-c IV prohibits this use by a driver under 18, whether hands-free or not, while moving or temporarily stopped in traffic. It preserves emergency reporting; paragraph V separately allows specified routing-information reception.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:79-c IV–V, reader lines 815–816; history line 817, operative amendments effective May 27 and June 3, 2016; future January 1, 2027 penalties excluded. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
A 17-year-old has set the route before driving. Which use is expressly permitted by New Hampshire’s routing-information exception while the car is moving?
Correct answer: Receiving spoken hands-free directions or turn-by-turn directions on a properly mounted or integrated screen.
Section 265:79-c V applies regardless of age to audio routing and specified screen-based turn-by-turn reception. A mobile screen must be integrated or mounted on the dashboard, windshield or visor. This is not permission for manual entry while driving.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:79-c I(a), IV and V, reader lines 797 and 815–816; history line 817, operative amendments effective May 27 and June 3, 2016; future January 1, 2027 penalties excluded. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
You are driving a 15-year-old passenger in an ordinary modern private car in New Hampshire, with no statutory restraint exception. Does the passenger need to wear the available seat belt?
Correct answer: Yes. The under-18 passenger must wear it properly adjusted and fastened.
Section 265:107-a I requires a properly worn belt for an under-18 passenger. Reaching an age beyond the child-restraint requirement does not remove that duty. This ordinary-car scenario excludes the specific vehicle and other exceptions in paragraph II.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:107-a I and II, reader lines 1025–1026 and 1031–1032; history line 1039, latest amendment 2023, 163:1, effective January 1, 2024. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
A 17-year-old is driving alone in an ordinary modern private car in New Hampshire, with no statutory restraint exception. Which belt requirement applies?
Correct answer: The driver must wear a seat or safety belt properly adjusted and fastened.
Section 265:107-a I-a places a belt duty on a driver under 18, not only on passengers. Driving alone or holding a license does not remove it. The stem excludes paragraph II’s specific exceptions and makes no adult-belt mandate claim.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:107-a I-a and II, reader lines 1027 and 1031–1032; history line 1039, latest amendment effective January 1, 2024. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
A six-year-old passenger is 55 inches tall and will ride in an ordinary modern private car in New Hampshire. No statutory exception applies. Which restraint is required?
Correct answer: A compliant child restraint system, properly used and secured for that child.
Section 265:107-a I-b requires a child restraint below age seven unless the child is at least 57 inches tall. This child does not meet that height exception. The restraint must also be used within the manufacturer’s instructions.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:107-a I-b and II, reader lines 1028–1029 and 1031–1032; history line 1039, latest amendment effective January 1, 2024. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
An 18-month-old will ride in an ordinary modern private car in New Hampshire, with no statutory exception. Which restraint direction does the law require?
Correct answer: Rear-facing in a properly secured child restraint that meets the applicable standards.
Section 265:107-a I-c requires a rear-facing child restraint for a passenger under two. Use a suitable restraint within its manufacturer’s limits; the child’s ability to walk or location in the rear seat does not replace the age rule.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:107-a I-b, I-c and II, reader lines 1029–1032; history line 1039, latest amendment effective January 1, 2024. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
A child restraint looks undamaged but has passed its manufacturer’s expiry date. For an ordinary car trip subject to New Hampshire’s child-restraint law, what should you do?
Correct answer: Use another suitable, unexpired restraint and follow its height, weight, installation and securement instructions.
Section 265:107-a I-b requires following manufacturer instructions, expressly including height and weight limits, attachment, child securement and expiry dates. Satisfying one part does not cancel the others.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 265, Rules of the Road; §265:107-a I-b, manufacturer-instructions sentence, reader line 1029; history line 1039, latest amendment effective January 1, 2024. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026. Selected device/restraint clauses, not a DMV handbook or complete current-law review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
While driving your private car, you scrape another occupied car and know that you caused property damage. Nobody is hurt, and the damage appears to be only $200. What must you do immediately?
Correct answer: Stop at the scene and give the required information to the other driver.
The immediate stop-and-information duty applies when a driver knows or should know that the crash caused death, injury or property damage. It does not have the separate written-report provision’s more-than-$1,000 property-damage threshold.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 264, Accidents and Financial Responsibility; §264:25 I, immediate stop and information duty, reader line 226; written-report distinction, line 229; latest displayed history 2018, 256:2, effective August 11, 2018, line 236. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026 through the retained chapter body. Selected ordinary private-car crash duties, not a DMV handbook or a complete financial-responsibility review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
After a property-damage collision involving your private car, you and your passenger are unhurt and able to provide information to the other driver. Which set includes the information New Hampshire requires you to give?
Correct answer: Your name, address and driver’s license number; insurance provider and policy information if applicable; the vehicle registration number; and each occupant’s name and address.
Section 264:25 I includes the driver’s name and address, driver’s license number, the driver’s or owner’s insurance provider and policy information if applicable, the vehicle registration number, and the name and address of each occupant. The occupant-information duty is not limited to injured occupants.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 264, Accidents and Financial Responsibility; §264:25 I, required information, reader line 226; latest displayed history 2018, 256:2, effective August 11, 2018, line 236. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026 through the retained chapter body. Selected ordinary private-car crash duties, not a DMV handbook or a complete financial-responsibility review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
You stop after damaging an unattended parked car with your private car. The owner is absent and cannot receive the required information. How must you provide that information under New Hampshire’s crash rule?
Correct answer: Give it to a uniformed police officer arriving at the scene, or immediately to a police officer at the nearest police station.
When absence, injury or another cause prevents a required recipient from understanding or receiving the information, §264:25 I directs the driver to a uniformed officer arriving at the scene or immediately to an officer at the nearest station. Leaving only a note does not replace that statutory route.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 264, Accidents and Financial Responsibility; §264:25 I, recipient unable to understand or receive information, reader line 227; police disclosure authority, line 228; latest displayed history 2018, 256:2, effective August 11, 2018, line 236. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026 through the retained chapter body. Selected ordinary private-car crash duties, not a DMV handbook or a complete financial-responsibility review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
A crash involving your private car causes $1,200 in property damage and no injuries. No police officer investigates or files a report. What written-report duty applies to you as the driver?
Correct answer: Report the required facts and circumstances in writing to the division within 15 days after the crash.
Section 264:25 I requires a written report within 15 days when anyone is injured or killed, or when property damage exceeds $1,000, unless an investigating officer’s filed report satisfies the requirement. The property threshold is more than $1,000, not $1,000 or more; the deadline runs from the crash.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 264, Accidents and Financial Responsibility; §264:25 I, written-report trigger, deadline and investigating-officer exception, reader line 229; latest displayed history 2018, 256:2, effective August 11, 2018, line 236. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026 through the retained chapter body. Selected ordinary private-car crash duties, not a DMV handbook or a complete financial-responsibility review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
After a reportable crash involving your private car, a police officer investigates and files the accident report. Does §264:25 I require you to submit a duplicate written report solely to satisfy that same reporting requirement?
Correct answer: No. The report filed by the investigating officer satisfies that statutory reporting requirement.
The statute expressly allows the investigating officer’s filed report to satisfy the reporting requirement. The scenario includes both an investigation and a filed report; merely seeing an officer at the scene is not the same premise. This does not erase the separate stop-and-information duties.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 264, Accidents and Financial Responsibility; §264:25 I, investigating-officer filed-report exception, reader line 229; separate stop and information duties, lines 226–227; latest displayed history 2018, 256:2, effective August 11, 2018, line 236. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026 through the retained chapter body. Selected ordinary private-car crash duties, not a DMV handbook or a complete financial-responsibility review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
After a collision, your private car remains in a traveled lane. It can be moved to a nearby untraveled area without risking further property damage or injury to anyone. What does New Hampshire’s roadway-clearance rule require?
Correct answer: Move it from the traveled portion to the untraveled area while still fulfilling the other crash duties.
Section 264:25-a requires moving the vehicle off the traveled roadway when that can be done without risk of further property damage or injury. It does not require an unsafe move. Clearing the lane does not authorize abandoning the other crash responsibilities.
Source: New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 264, Accidents and Financial Responsibility; §264:25-a, reader line 239; history 2004, 193:4, effective January 1, 2005, line 241; other crash duties, §264:25 I, lines 226–229. Actual codified HTML read October 1, 2026 through the retained chapter body. Selected ordinary private-car crash duties, not a DMV handbook or a complete financial-responsibility review; reader lines are not PDF pages. ↗
