New Hampshire Safe Driving practice test

Practice following distance, weather, night driving and sharing the road: 64 questions based on the New Hampshire Driver's Manual, 26 of them on New Hampshire's own rules.

Key New Hampshire facts: Safe Driving

Sample Safe Driving questions

When are headlights required in New Hampshire?

  • Only when driving on a highway with no streetlights
  • Only during snowstorms, with no time-of-day rule
  • Only when it is completely dark and streetlights are on
  • From half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise
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From half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise

Headlights are required in those hours, and also whenever rain, snow or fog limits visibility.

Source: RSA 266:31, RSA 266:31, paragraph I; New Hampshire Driver's Manual (DSMV 360, Rev. 11/25), Communicating and Signaling, PDF p. 21 (printed p. 15)

Within about how many feet of another vehicle must you dim your headlights at night?

  • 50 feet
  • 1,000 feet
  • 500 feet
  • 150 feet
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150 feet

The law requires dimming within approximately 150 feet of another vehicle.

Source: RSA 265:114, RSA 265:114

A passenger younger than 2 must ride how?

  • In a rear-facing child restraint system
  • In a booster seat with a lap belt only
  • In the front seat with no restraint at all
  • On an adult's lap in the back seat
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In a rear-facing child restraint system

Passengers under 2 must be in a rear-facing restraint system.

Source: RSA 265:107-a, RSA 265:107-a, paragraph I-c

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About these questions

We wrote these practice questions from the facts in the New Hampshire Driver's Manual (New Hampshire Driver's Manual, New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of Motor Vehicles; 52 PDF pages, the last page reads 'DSMV 360: Drivers Manual (Rev. 11/25)' (PDF metadata: created 2026-01-06, modified 2026-03-03; the file was served with Last-Modified 2026-03-03); linked as 'Driver's Manual (Operator), New Hampshire' on the DMV Forms page (https://www.dmv.nh.gov/forms), read 2026-11-10. The DMV site (dmv.nh.gov) refuses non-browser downloads (Akamai 403), so the PDF was fetched in the built-in browser and its text extracted. Page numbers cited are PDF pages; the printed page number is the PDF page minus 6 (printed p. 1 is PDF p. 7). The CDL, motorcycle and organ-donation material and the 'Test Your Knowledge' fill-in questions (PDF pp. 48-51, a study aid and not the exam) were not used as question sources. Statutes were read on gencourt.state.nh.us (RSA Title XXI, chapters 263, 264, 265, 265-A and 266) on 2026-11-10; several sections carry amendments effective 2026-07-01 (RSA 263:10) and 2027-01-01 (RSA 265:79-c fines, RSA 265:54 school bus penalties, RSA 265-A:14 refusal penalties and RSA 265-A:18), so no question tests those fine or penalty amounts. Handbook statements that differ from or go beyond current law and how they were handled: (1) railroad crossings (PDF p. 28 says buses that carry passengers and trucks carrying flammable or hazardous material must stop) is broader than RSA 265:50 (passengers for hire, school buses carrying children, explosives, flammable-liquid tank vehicles and LPG cylinders); only the school bus case, which both agree on, is tested; (2) speed limits (PDF p. 21 says '45 or 55 mph in other locations') omit that RSA 265:60 II(d) sets 45 mph only on unimproved rural highways and 55 mph elsewhere; questions use the statute; (3) child restraints (PDF p. 18) omit RSA 265:107-a I-c (passengers under 2 in a rear-facing seat); a question uses the statute; (4) school bus stops (PDF p. 33 says to stop at least 25 feet away 'in any direction' unless a physical barrier separates the roadway) is broader than RSA 265:54 III (only the other roadway of a divided highway with separate roadways, or a loading zone on a controlled-access highway); a question uses the statute; (5) the youth operator text (PDF pp. 11-12) predates the amendment of RSA 263:14 V (eff. 2026-01-01: a youth operator convicted of DWI, reckless driving or 30+ mph over the limit cannot be reissued a license for at least 90 days), which a question tests from the statute; (6) the manual gives no headlight-dimming distance, while RSA 265:114 says within approximately 150 feet, so dim_oncoming_ft and dim_following_ft use the statute; (7) the manual's following distance is four seconds (PDF pp. 22, 36) and the statute (RSA 265:25 I) sets no time, so following_seconds uses the manual; (8) the manual says New Hampshire has no mandatory insurance law (PDF p. 38); no section of RSA 264 read requires insurance in general, only proof of financial responsibility in cases such as RSA 264:2, 264:3 and 264:20, so questions follow the manual and common questions that assume compulsory insurance are excluded; (9) the REAL ID paragraph (PDF p. 11) still speaks of 7 May 2025 as a future date; not tested; (10) the new-resident 60-day rule (PDF p. 7) is stated only in the manual, not in a statute section read, and is tested from the manual; (11) the manual's work-zone sentence 'Fines may be doubled' (PDF p. 29) was not found in a statute section read and is not tested. Vision (20/40, 80% pass, 10-day retest), appointment and language facts come from the DMV page Driver Licensing Testing Requirements, read 2026-11-10; the youth-operator and practice-driving rules agree between the DMV pages, the manual and RSA 263:14 and 263:25. edition) and from official sources on road signs. Every answer links to its source, so you can check it and read more.

DMV Decoded is an independent guide, not a government agency. This practice test is not connected to the New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of Motor Vehicles, and your actual test will have different questions. Study the handbook, and check the agency's website for current rules.