As you approach a rotary traffic island, may you take the left-hand way around it simply because that would make your route shorter?
Correct answer: No; vehicles must pass to the right of the rotary island.
Section 265:23 III requires vehicles to pass to the right of a rotary traffic island. A desired exit or shorter route does not permit reversing that circulation direction.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:23, III, rotary traffic island; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
You have activated your turn signal but have not yet established that the next lane is safe. What must you do before crossing into it?
Correct answer: First determine that the lane change can be completed safely.
A driver must remain in one lane as nearly as practicable and establish that movement from the lane is safe before making it. Signaling does not replace that determination.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:24, I, single-lane travel and ascertaining safety before a lane change; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
A two-way road has three marked lanes. Its center lane is not officially allocated exclusively to your direction. You are neither passing nor preparing for a left turn. May you use it as your regular through lane?
Correct answer: No; ordinary continuous through travel does not fit the listed center-lane uses.
The center lane on such a road is limited to the specified passing, left-turn preparation or officially allocated same-direction use. Temporary emptiness does not allocate the lane to you.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:24, II, three-lane two-way roadway; passing/left-turn/exclusive-allocation exceptions; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
An official sign directs traffic of your type to a particular lane. Another lane looks less congested. What should you do?
Correct answer: Follow the official lane assignment rather than choose solely by congestion.
Official controls may assign specified traffic or travel directions to lanes, and drivers must follow those directions. A shorter queue does not cancel the assignment.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:24, III, traffic-control devices assigning specified traffic or direction to lanes; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
An official traffic-control device prohibits lane changes along the section you are entering. The next lane has a clear gap. What should you do?
Correct answer: Stay in your lane through the restricted section.
The chapter expressly authorizes lane-change restrictions and requires drivers to obey them. The normal requirement for a safe gap is not permission to disregard a specific restriction.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:24, IV, official prohibition on lane changes; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
Rain and slowing traffic have changed the conditions since you chose the gap behind the car ahead. How should you reassess that gap?
Correct answer: Use a reasonable and prudent distance for the speed, traffic and road conditions now present.
The following-distance law is conditions-based. It requires attention to speed, traffic and the way's condition rather than one universal statutory number of seconds or car lengths.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:25, I, reasonable-and-prudent gap considering speed, traffic and way conditions; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
Several friends are driving separate cars in a caravan on a road outside a business or residential district. It is not a funeral procession. What spacing duty applies?
Correct answer: Leave enough space between vehicles for another vehicle to enter the gap safely.
The caravan rule requires safe entry space between vehicles outside business or residential districts. Wanting to keep the group together does not remove that duty; funeral processions are expressly excepted.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:25, III, caravan/motorcade gaps outside business or residence districts; funeral exception; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
You miss an exit on a divided way. At your location there is only a separating barrier or dividing space, with no permitted opening and no public-authority permission to cross. What should you do?
Correct answer: Continue to a lawful route instead of crossing the divider.
The divider cannot be crossed or used for travel outside the specified openings, crossovers or permission. Missing an exit is not authorization to cut across it.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:26, I, divided-way travel and permitted crossings or public-authority exception; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
Your private car is not in an emergency, and you are not carrying out official duties. Traffic is slow on a divided way. May you cross the unbroken boundary line and drive along the emergency breakdown lane to get ahead?
Correct answer: No; ordinary congestion does not qualify for the listed exceptions.
Section 265:26 II restricts driving beyond that unbroken boundary. Its official-duty and emergency exceptions do not turn ordinary congestion into permission to use the breakdown lane.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:26, II, unbroken boundary line on divided way; official-duty and emergency exceptions; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
A physical path from a controlled-access roadway would lead to a nearby property, but it is not an entrance or exit established by public authority. May you use it to leave the roadway?
Correct answer: No; use an established entrance or exit.
A controlled-access roadway may be entered or left only at entrances and exits established by public authority. Physical room to get through does not make a path an authorized exit.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:27, Restricted Access, complete operative sentence; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
You and a car on your right approach an ordinary uncontrolled intersection together. There is no through-highway priority or officer's direction changing the rule. Who should yield?
Correct answer: You should yield to the car on your right.
The driver approaching or entering on the left yields to the vehicle on the right, subject to traffic controls, officer directions and other chapter rules. The scenario excludes those special priorities.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:28, I–II, vehicle on left yields to right; traffic-control, police and through-highway qualifications; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
You want to turn left into a driveway. An opposing car is close enough that your turn would force it to brake to avoid you. What should you do?
Correct answer: Yield until the opposing vehicle no longer creates an immediate hazard to your turn.
The left-turn yielding duty applies to turns into a driveway or private road as well as at an intersection. A signal does not remove the duty to yield to close opposing traffic.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:29, Vehicle Turning Left, opposing traffic within intersection or immediate-hazard distance; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
After a full stop at a stop sign, you see a car on the crossing road approaching close enough to be a hazard during your entry. No officer or signal directs you to proceed. What should you do?
Correct answer: Continue yielding until you can enter without that immediate hazard.
A stop does not finish the right-of-way duty. After stopping, the driver must yield to a vehicle already in the intersection or approaching closely enough to pose an immediate hazard during the movement.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:30, I, stop duty and yielding after the stop; officer/traffic-signal exception; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
At a yield sign, traffic makes it unsafe to enter while still moving. How should you handle the approach?
Correct answer: Slow for the conditions and stop when necessary to yield safely.
The approach must be at a reasonable speed with the required yielding. Section 265:31 III also specifies the stopping duty and position when safety requires a stop at a yield sign.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:30, II, reasonable approach speed and yielding; paired with RSA 265:31 III, stop when required for safety; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
You are using a highway entrance ramp that has no yield sign. Traffic is already traveling on the highway. Which rule applies?
Correct answer: You must yield to highway traffic even without a yield sign on the ramp.
The statute expressly requires ramp entrants to yield to vehicles on the highway regardless of whether the entrance ramp has a yield sign.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:30, III, entrance-ramp duty regardless of yield sign; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
A stop-sign intersection has neither a crosswalk nor a marked stop line. No officer or traffic signal directs you to proceed. Where does the statute place your stop?
Correct answer: At the nearest point to the intersecting roadway where you can see approaching traffic, before entering the intersection.
For a stop sign, the statute names the near-side crosswalk first, then a marked stop line if there is no crosswalk. With neither present, stop at the nearest viewing point before entering the intersection.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:31, II, stop-sign placement hierarchy and officer/traffic-signal exception; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
You are about to drive out of a private driveway onto a road. A vehicle is approaching on that road. What duty applies before you enter?
Correct answer: Yield to the approaching road traffic.
A driver entering or crossing a way from a private road or driveway must yield to vehicles approaching on that way. Waiting at the driveway does not create priority.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:32, Vehicle Entering Way From Private Road or Driveway, complete operative sentence; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
An authorized emergency vehicle immediately approaches with its emergency light flashing, although you do not hear a siren. No officer gives different instructions. What must you do?
Correct answer: Yield, move parallel and as close as possible to the right edge clear of an intersection, and stop until it passes.
The duty applies when the emergency vehicle uses an audible or a visual warning; both are not required. Move right, keep the intersection clear and remain stopped until it passes unless an officer directs otherwise.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:33, First operative paragraph, audible OR visual signal; right edge clear of intersection; stop until passed; officer exception; official consolidated Chapter 265 HTML and displayed source history read October 1, 2026. ↗
At a marked crosswalk with no operating traffic signal and no pedestrian tunnel or overpass, a pedestrian is already crossing on your half of the road. What must you do?
Correct answer: Yield, slowing or stopping as needed to let the pedestrian cross safely.
Without an operating traffic signal, a driver must yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk on the driver's half of the roadway, or approaching so closely from the opposite half as to be in danger. Slowing or stopping may be necessary. This scenario excludes the tunnel or overhead-crossing exception.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:35, Pedestrian's Right of Way in Crosswalks, I–III; paired with §265:36 I–II exceptions; official operative HTML body read October 1, 2026. ↗
A vehicle ahead stops at an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to let someone cross. May you overtake and pass that vehicle while the pedestrian crosses?
Correct answer: No. The prohibition also covers an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
A driver approaching from behind must not overtake and pass a vehicle stopped to permit a pedestrian to cross at a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
Source: New Hampshire RSA 265:35, Pedestrian's Right of Way in Crosswalks, IV; official operative HTML body read October 1, 2026. ↗
