Police traffic stops — New Hampshire Permit Test
Police traffic stops on the New Hampshire permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
When a police vehicle with lights or sirens pulls in behind, a driver must come to a complete stop and place the vehicle in park.
Putting the car in park tells the officer walking up that it is not about to move, which is the first thing they need to know.
Come to a complete stop and place the vehicle in park.
A driver stopped by police must remain in the vehicle unless requested to get out.
Getting out changes the situation for an officer who cannot yet see what is in the car or in your hands.
Remain in the vehicle unless requested to get out.
A driver stopped by police should turn off the engine, turn on the hazard flashers, and at night turn on the interior lights so the officer can see inside the vehicle.
At night an officer approaching a dark car cannot see anything, and the interior light removes the worst of the uncertainty.
Turn off the engine and turn on the hazard flashers and if at night, the interior lights to help the officer see that everything is in order inside the vehicle.
A driver stopped by police should remain calm, keep the safety belt fastened, place their hands on the steering wheel and limit movements, and ask passengers to do the same.
Hands on the wheel answers the question the officer is asking themselves as they walk up.
Place hands on the steering wheel and limit movements.
When asked for documents a driver should tell the officer where they are located and reach for them slowly with one hand on the wheel.
Reaching into a glovebox without saying so is the movement that turns an ordinary stop into something else.
tell the officer where they are located and reach for them slowly with one hand on the wheel.
If the police vehicle is unmarked a driver should be sure it has its blue lights activated, and may ask a plain clothes officer for identification such as a badge or department identification card.
A driver is entitled to know who is stopping them, and the blue lights are the first part of that answer.
If the police officer is in plain clothes (no uniform), ask for identification such as a badge or department identification card.
On the test
What must a driver do first when stopped by a police vehicle?
Come to a complete stop and place the vehicle in park. Putting the car in park tells the officer walking up that it is not about to move, which is the first thing they need to know. New Hampshire Driver's Manual, p.40: “Come to a complete stop and place the vehicle in park.”
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)