New Hampshire New Resident Guide

Licensing and Residency Requirements

• Once a person has established residency in New Hampshire, he/she has a maximum of 60 days to register his/her vehicle(s) and obtain a New Hampshire driver license
• Any New Hampshire driver who changes his or her name or address is required by law to submit written notification to the DMV within 10 days.

Violation Point Counts

The amount of points that go against your driver's license for specific types of violations.

6 Point Violations

• Aggravated DWI
• Alteration of title
• Change or remove vehicle ID Number
• Conduct after accident
• Disobeying police officer
• DWI
• False report of theft
• Lending license to minor to purchase alcohol
• Odometer tampering
• Prohibition
• Road racing
• School bus violation
• Taking without owner's consent
• Transporting drugs in a motor vehicle

4 Point Violations

• Driving without proof of financial responsibility
• Failure to drive on right hand side of road
• Improper passing
• Speeding at rate of 25 mph or greater over posted speed limit

3 Point Violations

• Abandoned vehicles
• Speeding at rate of 1-24 mph over posted speed limit

2 Point Violations

• Allowing improper person to drive commercial vehicle
• Failure to display or produce license for officer

How Long Points Remain on Record

The number of demerit points assessed for a motor vehicle conviction will appear on a certified copy of a record for three years from the date of the violation.

Headlight Laws

You must dim your headlights from high to low beam when you are within 150 feet of an oncoming vehicle or within 150 feet of a vehicle traveling ahead of you.

You must use your headlights:

• From one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise.
• Any time your vision is limited, or when you cannot clearly make out objects at a distance of 1000 feet ahead.

There is no specific law allowing or prohibiting headlight flashing.

DUI Penalties

First conviction (Class B misdemeanor)

• $500 - $1,200 fine
• 9 months - 2 years license revocation

Second conviction (Class A misdemeanor)

• $750 - $2,000
• Up to 1 year imprisonment
• At least 3 years license revocation

Third conviction (Class A misdemeanor)

• $750 - $2,000 fine
• 180 days - 1 year imprisonment
• 5 years - indefinite license revocation

Fourth or subsequent conviction (felony)

• $750 - $4,000 fine
• 180 days - 1 year imprisonment
• 7 years - indefinite license suspension

Other

Community Service

• A court may sentence a defendant to community service as a condition of a suspended sentence or probation.

Child Endangerment

• Any person convicted of DWI while transporting a person under the age of 16 shall have the driver's license or privilege to drive revoked for the maximum time period and not restored until the offender has completed an impaired driver care management program within 14 days of conviction. Additionally such driver shall undergo a substance abuse disorder evaluation if testing suggests a disorder.

Impaired driver education program

• Court may order for any alcohol-related offense

Ignition interlock

• Required for Aggravated DWI or subsequent DWI offenders for 1 - 2 years following license reinstatement

Red Light Violation Fines

• Red light cameras are prohibited.
• No statewide fine amount in above list, cannot find elsewhere.

Turn Signal Information

Signal your intention to turn or change lanes at least 100 feet in advance.

Funeral Procession Right-of-Way Laws

• All vehicles in the procession must follow one another as closely as safely possible and should be marked with funeral flags or windshield signs, headlights, tail lights, and hazard flashers. The escort vehicle must have a purple flashing or emergency light.
• When the lead vehicle has entered an intersection lawfully, the other vehicles may proceed without regard to the traffic signal.
• Funeral processions have the right-of-way.

Bicyclist Passing Distance

A 3-foot minimum passing distance is required.

Using the Shoulder to Pass

You may not drive off the roadway to pass on the right.

Speed Limits

• Operating a motor vehicle above the following speed limits is considered prima facie evidence that such speed is not reasonable or prudent and is unlawful.
• 65 mph on the interstate system and other highways designated via statute;
• Such designations include those portions of the central and eastern New Hampshire turnpikes that are four-lane divided highways and on other divided highways that have four or more lanes.
• 55 mph on other highways;
• 35 mph in rural residential districts and Class V highways outside the compact part of a city or town;
• 30 mph in a business or urban residential district;
• 25 mph for a vehicle equipped with a transponder through a toll booth/gate;
• 10 mph below the usual posted speed limit in a school zone;
• This limit is in effect from 45 minutes before until 45 minutes after school hours.
• 10 mph below the usual posted speed limit but in no case greater than
• 45 mph on a portion of a highway where persons are at work.

Emergency Vehicle Laws

Move Over

• When in or approaching an incident involving a fire, collision, disaster, or other emergency resulting in partial or complete blockage of a highway, or a location where a police officer has made a traffic stop, you must:
• Maintain a reduced speed.
• Obey the directions of any authorized person directing traffic and of all applicable emergency signals and traffic control devices.
• Vacate as soon as possible any lane wholly or partially blocked.
• Give a wide berth, without endangering oncoming traffic, to public safety personnel, any persons in the roadway, and stationary vehicles displaying blue, red, or amber emergency or warning lights.

Following

• Do not follow a fire apparatus traveling in response to a fire alarm closer than 500 feet, or drive into or park within the block where the fire apparatus has stopped in answer to a fire alarm.

Collision Procedures

• Stop at the scene or as close as possible without obstructing traffic more than necessary, and remain at the scene until all requirements are fulfilled
• You must provide the following information to any other person involved in the accident, or any police officer at the scene of the crash:
• Driver's name, address, and driver's license number;
• Name and address of each occupant;
• Vehicle registration number.
• Report crash
• If none of the other people involved in the accident are in a condition to receive the information you are required to give them, you must report this information to any police officer at the scene or at the nearest police station.
• If the crash resulted in injury, death, or property damage of $1,000 or more, you must report the accident in writing within 15 days after the accident, unless the accident was investigated by a law enforcement officer. If the driver is not physically capable of making this report, the owner of the vehicle or the owner's representative must report the accident.