Traffic Stops
RSA 265:4 — name, address, date of birth and the license, on an officer's request
Two sections set what a driver hands over at a stop.
Who handles this in New Hampshire: New Hampshire Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the New Hampshire directory.
- A driver has the license on their person or somewhere easily reached in the vehicle, and displays it and surrenders it into the officer's hands for inspection on demand.
- A driver may not refuse, when a law enforcement officer requests it, to give their name, address, date of birth, and the name and address of the vehicle's owner, or give false information that would hinder the officer from identifying the driver.
- A driver may not refuse, on the officer's demand, to sign their name in the officer's presence, or to produce the license or the registration certificate and let the officer take it in hand to examine it.
A class A misdemeanor. Refusing the name and the other details, giving false ones, refusing to sign, or refusing to produce the license or registration is a class A misdemeanor, and the license and registrations may also be suspended.
A driver charged with not having the license on hand is not convicted if, within 48 hours, they produce at the arresting officer's office evidence of a valid license in effect at the time.
The Fourth Amendment sets limits on every stop, and the Supreme Court of the United States has drawn several of them. It has held that a stop is reasonable where the officer has probable cause to believe a traffic violation occurred, whatever the officer's actual motive; that an officer making a lawful stop may order the driver, and the passengers, out of the vehicle; that a passenger is seized by the stop and may challenge it; and that a stop may last no longer than its purpose requires, so it may not be extended for a dog sniff without separate reasonable suspicion. It has also held that consent to a search has to be voluntary, judged on all the circumstances, and that the prosecution does not have to prove the person knew they could refuse. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (8)
- RSA 263:2 — Possession of License Required
- RSA 265:4 — Disobeying an Officer
- Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806 (1996) — A traffic stop is reasonable when there is probable cause of a traffic violation
- Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106 (1977) — An officer may order the driver out of a lawfully stopped car
- Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U.S. 408 (1997) — An officer may order passengers out of a lawfully stopped car
- Brendlin v. California, 551 U.S. 249 (2007) — A passenger is seized by a traffic stop and may challenge it
- Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348 (2015) — A stop may not be extended beyond its purpose to run a dog sniff
- Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218 (1973) — Consent to a search must be voluntary
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New Hampshire attorney.