Brake failure — New Hampshire Permit Test
Brake failure on the New Hampshire permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
If the brakes stop working a driver should engage the parking brake slowly, to avoid locking the rear wheels and causing a skid.
The parking brake works on the rear wheels alone, so pulling it hard spins the car rather than stopping it.
Pull on the parking brake handle in the center console or push the parking brake foot pedal slowly to avoid locking the rear wheels and causing a skid.
A driver using the parking brake to stop should be ready to release it if the vehicle starts to skid.
The brake that is slowing you is also the one that can spin you, so a hand has to stay on it.
Be ready to release the brake if the vehicle starts to skid.
If engaging the parking brake does not work a driver should turn off the engine and look for a safe place to slow to a stop off the roadway.
Once nothing is slowing the car, the only thing left is to choose where it ends up.
If engaging the brake does not work, turn off the engine and look for a safe place to slow to a stop off the roadway.
On the test
How should a driver use the parking brake when the brakes fail?
Slowly, to avoid locking the rear wheels. The parking brake works on the rear wheels alone, so pulling it hard spins the car rather than stopping it. New Hampshire Driver's Manual, p.35: “Pull on the parking brake handle in the center console or push the parking brake foot pedal slowly to avoid locking the rear wheels and causing a skid.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
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All New Hampshire permit topics
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against New Hampshire Driver's Manual, published by the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-16.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/NH.pdf (New Hampshire Driver's Manual, Rev. 11/25, New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/NH.pages.txt (plain pdftotext over that PDF; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/SOURCES.json (sha256, folio offset 6, folioMarker, nonLawPages, signGalleryPages and the extraction flag, each with its basis)