Hands free exceptions — New Hampshire Permit Test
Hands free exceptions on the New Hampshire permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
The exceptions to the device ban are open only to drivers over the age of 18 years of age.
The exceptions are narrow and they turn on age. What an adult may do at the wheel is still forbidden to a driver of seventeen.
Only drivers over the age of 18 years of age may:
One permitted use is one hand to transmit or receive messages on a non-cellular 2-way radio.
A trade radio has a button that has to be held, and the law makes room for it rather than pretending it is hands-free.
Use one hand to transmit or receive messages on any non-cellular 2-way radio.
A hands-free electronic device lets a user hold a conversation without the use of either hand.
The definition draws the line at the hands. A device a driver has to hold is not hands-free however it is sold.
a mobile electronic device that has an internal feature or function, or that is equipped with an attachment or addition, whether or not permanently part of such mobile electronic device, by which a user engages in conversation without the use of either hand
The hands-free definition does not stop a driver using a hand merely to activate, deactivate or start a function of the telephone.
A single touch to answer is allowed. What the law is aimed at is the driver who holds the device through the whole call.
this definition shall not preclude the use of either hand merely to activate, deactivate or initiate a function of the telephone.
A driver over 18 may use a hand to perform any action required by an ignition interlock device.
The interlock has to be blown into while the vehicle is running, so the law that bans handling devices has to make room for it.
To perform any action required by an ignition interlock device.
On the test
Which drivers may use the exceptions to the device ban?
Only drivers over the age of 18. The exceptions are narrow and they turn on age. What an adult may do at the wheel is still forbidden to a driver of seventeen. New Hampshire Driver's Manual, p.8: “Only drivers over the age of 18 years of age may:”
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
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
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)