New Hampshire Driving Laws for Visitors: What Out-of-State Drivers Get Wrong

You’ve driven for years, you know what a stop sign means, and you’re only here for a long weekend. So why read up on New Hampshire driving laws for visitors? Because a handful of rules here are genuinely different from Massachusetts, New York or wherever you learned to drive, and two of them run in opposite directions. One is stricter than people expect. One is famously looser. And the ticket for getting it wrong follows the rental car home to you.

We rent cars every week to people who are new to driving in the Granite State, from parents visiting a student to families over spring vacation. These are the questions they ask us at the handover in Derry and Manchester, answered with the actual statute behind each one. It’s a general guide, not legal advice, and laws change, so the official links are there for you to check.

The hands-free law: the rule visitors break without noticing

New Hampshire has banned hand-held phone use behind the wheel since 2015. Under RSA 265:79-c, you can’t hold a phone or other mobile device to make a call, read or write a message, browse, or type a destination into a map app while you’re driving. The part that catches people is the definition of driving. It covers being temporarily halted at a traffic light or in a momentary jam. Picking up the phone at the light on South Willow Street in Manchester counts.

What’s allowed:

• Hands-free calling through Bluetooth or the car’s own system, with one hand used only to start or end a call.
• Navigation, either spoken directions or a map on a screen that’s built into the car or mounted on the dashboard, windshield or visor.
• Calling 911 or emergency services.
• Using the phone once you’re lawfully pulled off the road and stopped.

Drivers under 18 are held to a tighter rule: no phone use at all, even hands-free, except to report an emergency. As of this spring, fines start at $100 for a first offense, rising to $250 for a second and $500 for any further offense within 24 months, plus penalty assessments.

In a rental: pair your phone and set your first destination in the driveway, before you pull out. If you rely on your phone for maps, bring your own vent or dash mount so the phone has somewhere legal to sit.

Seat belts: the famous exception, and where it stops

It’s true. New Hampshire is the state that doesn’t make adults wear a seat belt. But the exception is narrower than the bar-trivia version suggests. Under RSA 265:107-a:

• Every driver and passenger under 18 must be belted. As the driver, you’re responsible for every passenger under 18 in the car, not just your own kids.
• Children under 7 must ride in a proper child restraint, used to the manufacturer’s height and weight limits, unless they’re at least 57 inches tall.
• Children under 2 must ride rear-facing.

And the exception ends at the state line. Massachusetts requires every driver, and every passenger 16 or older, to buckle up. Plenty of southern New Hampshire trips cross the border: a Logan run, a Celtics game, the outlets in Wrentham. So does the drive home for most of our visitors. Our advice is simple: belt up for every trip and skip the mental arithmetic.

Headlights: not tied to your wipers here

Massachusetts drivers are used to “wipers on, lights on.” New Hampshire’s law is written differently. RSA 266:31 requires headlights from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, and whenever rain, snow or fog cuts visibility so that people and vehicles aren’t clearly visible 1,000 feet ahead. There’s no wiper trigger. A 2025 bill to add one didn’t pass.

That’s a technicality, not a recommendation. April showers on I-93 throw up a lot of spray, and daytime running lights often don’t turn on your tail lights. If the wipers are going steadily, switch the headlights on. Once you’re back in Massachusetts, it’s the law.

Move over, and slow down, for anything stopped with lights on

Every state has a move-over law, but New Hampshire’s reaches further than many drivers realize. RSA 265:37-a, last amended in September 2025, requires you to slow down and, where it’s practical, give a wide berth to:

• Police, fire and ambulance crews, and any vehicle showing blue, red or amber lights, which covers tow trucks and highway crews.
• Crashes, fires and utility or road work.
• Any stopped vehicle showing hazard lights, flares, cones or warning signs, including an ordinary driver with a flat tire.

You also have to get out of any lane that’s fully or partly blocked as soon as you can, and follow anyone directing traffic. The fine is $75 plus penalty assessment for a first offense and $250 for another within 12 months. On I-93 and the Everett Turnpike, the practical move is to check your mirror early and change lanes well before you reach the scene. If you can’t move over safely, slow down noticeably.

Speed limits: 65 on the interstate, 70 farther north

Unless a sign says otherwise, RSA 265:60 sets these limits:

• 65 mph on divided interstates and turnpikes of four or more lanes, including I-93 through Salem, Derry and Manchester, I-95 on the Seacoast and the Everett Turnpike.
• 70 mph on I-93 from mile marker 45, around Canterbury north of Concord, to the Vermont border.
• 55 mph on other highways, such as stretches of Route 101.
• 35 mph in rural residential areas and 30 mph in business and urban residential districts.

Watch for posted reductions through town centers, school zones and work zones. Those signs replace the defaults. State roads that run through town centers, like Route 28 and Route 102, change speed often.

Roundabouts: yield to the traffic already circling

New Hampshire has been adding modern roundabouts across the state, and drivers from places without them tend to either freeze at the entry or barrel in. The NHDOT roundabout guide boils it down to a few rules:

1. Slow down on the approach and yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
2. Yield to traffic already in the roundabout. Look left, wait for a gap, then go.
3. Don’t stop once you’re in, and don’t pass the car ahead of you.
4. Signal right as you approach your exit.
5. On a two-lane roundabout, choose your lane before you enter: left lane for left turns and U-turns, right lane for right turns, either for straight ahead. Don’t ride alongside a large truck.

Some older traffic circles in New England don’t follow the “yield on entry” rule, so read the signs at each one rather than assuming.

What changes when the car is a rental

None of the laws above change because the car is ours. A few practical things do:

• Tickets are the driver’s responsibility. Our rental terms make guests responsible for traffic tickets and parking violations during the rental. A camera or parking ticket tied to the plate still comes back to you.
• Tolls are billed after the trip. I-93 has a toll plaza at Hooksett, between Manchester and Concord, and the Everett Turnpike and the Seacoast have more. Automated tolls on our cars are tracked and billed at the end of the month.
• Paved roads only. Our vehicles aren’t for off-road use. In April, some back roads and trailhead lots up north are soft gravel or mud. If a route looks unpaved, choose another or call us first.
• Who can drive: every driver must be 18 or older with a valid license and be added to the rental. Additional drivers are added for a fee and must be present at pickup. US licenses from any state are accepted. If you’re visiting from abroad, call (603) 661-2672 and we’ll confirm exactly what to bring.
• If something goes wrong, a warning light, a flat or a fender-bender, pull over safely and call us. We answer 24/7, and you shouldn’t attempt repairs yourself.

One more spring note. Wildlife is moving at dawn and dusk, and that includes moose once you head north of the Lakes Region. Slow down where the yellow moose-crossing signs start.

A New Hampshire driving laws checklist for visitors

1. Pair your phone and set the route before you leave the driveway.
2. Bring a phone mount if you navigate with your phone.
3. Belt everyone under 18, and use the right seat for children under 7. Belt yourself too.
4. Headlights on in the rain, and always after dark.
5. Move over for flashing lights and hazards, or slow right down if you can’t.
6. 65 on the interstate, 70 north of Canterbury on I-93, and follow posted limits in town.
7. In a roundabout, yield on entry and signal out.
8. Save (603) 661-2672 for 24/7 help.

Most New Hampshire driving laws for visitors come down to habits you probably already have. The two to remember are that holding a phone is out, even at a light, and that the seat belt exception covers adults only, and only in New Hampshire. Get those right and the rest is just a pleasant drive. Browse our fleet, see car rental in Manchester or Derry, or book online in a couple of minutes.