Following distance — New Hampshire Permit Test
Following distance on the New Hampshire permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Drivers should always try to keep a minimum following distance of at least four seconds between their car and the vehicle in front.
Four seconds covers the time to notice, the time to react and the distance to stop, which is what a shorter gap does not.
Drivers should always try to keep a minimum following distance of at least four seconds between their car and the vehicle in front.
To measure the following distance a driver watches when the rear of the vehicle ahead passes a sign, pole or other stationary point.
Counting from a fixed object is the only way to measure time rather than guessing at distance from the seat.
Watch when the rear of the vehicle ahead passes a sign, pole or any other stationary point.
A driver should reduce speed and count again at another stationary point to check the new following interval.
The count only tells you what the gap was. Checking again is how you know the correction worked.
Reduce speed and then count again at another stationary point to check the new following interval.
A driver that closely follows the vehicle in front limits their vision of the road and does not allow enough time to react to avoid a collision.
Tailgating costs a driver both of the things they need: the view ahead, and the time to use it.
A driver that closely follows the vehicle in front of them limits their vision of the road and does not allow enough time to react to avoid a collision.
On the test
What minimum following distance should a driver keep?
Four seconds. Four seconds covers the time to notice, the time to react and the distance to stop, which is what a shorter gap does not. New Hampshire Driver's Manual, p.30: “Drivers should always try to keep a minimum following distance of at least four seconds between their car and the vehicle in front.”
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)