1. The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to or death of any
person shall immediately by the quickest means of communication give notice of such
accident to the sheriff of the county in which said accident occurred, or the nearest office of
the state patrol, or to any other peace officer as near as practicable to the place where the
accident occurred.
2. The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to or death of any
person, or total property damage to an apparent extent of one thousand five hundred dollars
or more shall, within seventy-two hours after the accident, forward a written report of the
accident to the department. However, such report is not required when the accident is
investigated by a law enforcement agency.
3. Every law enforcement officer who, in the regular course of duty, investigates a motor
\n
Tue Dec 09 22:16:59 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 321 (137, 2)
185 MOTOR VEHICLES AND LAW OF THE ROAD, §321.268\n\nvehicle accident of which report must be made as required in subsections 1 and 2, either at the
time of and at the scene of the accident or thereafter by interviewing participants or witnesses
shall, within twenty-four hours after completing such investigation, forward a written report
of such accident to the department.
4. Notwithstanding section 455B.386, a carrier transporting hazardous material upon a
public highway in this state, in the case of an accident involving the transportation of the
hazardous material, shall immediately notify the police radio broadcasting system established
pursuant to section 693.1 or shall notify a peace officer of the county or city in which the
accident occurs. When a local law enforcement agency is informed of the accident, the agency
shall notify the state patrol. A person who violates a provision of this subsection is guilty of
a serious misdemeanor.
[S13, §1571-m23; C24, §5073, 5075, 5104; C27, 31, 35, §5073, 5075, 5105-a35, 5105-c21;
C39, §5020.06; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §321.266; 81 Acts, ch 103, §5]
87 Acts, ch 170, §6; 97 Acts, ch 72, §1; 97 Acts, ch 108, §15; 98 Acts, ch 1074, §23; 2002 Acts,
ch 1063, §32; 2005 Acts, ch 35, §31; 2010 Acts, ch 1157, §1; 2021 Acts, ch 80, §169; 2023 Acts,
ch 85, §11
Referred to in §321.228, 321.265, 321.267, 321.271, 321.517, 321G.10, 321I.11
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
17
cases, 1949–2019 · leading case:
State v. Tarbox, 739 N.W.2d 850 (Iowa 2007).
State v. Tarbox, 739 N.W.2d 850 (Iowa 2007).
· cites it 11× “Iowa Code § 321.266 . The State had the option of charging Tarbox with a violation of section 321.”
State v. Rullestad, 143 N.W.2d 278 (Iowa 1966).
· cites it 28× “271 renders section 321.266 and perhaps section 321.267 requiring a supplemental report in the discretion of the department unconstitutional in that this defendant is thereby compelled to be a witness against himself and is thereby deprived of due process of law under the Iowa…”
Miller v. Boone Cnty. Hosp., 394 N.W.2d 776 (Iowa 1986).
· cites it 4× “Iowa Code § 321.266 (requiring reporting of car accidents, involving injury or death, by driver).”
Ferris v. Riley, 101 N.W.2d 176 (Iowa 1960).
· cites it 5× “The only errors assigned are first, that evidence was improperly admitted which was incompetent under section 321.266 of the Code, which requires reports of accidents, and section 321.”
Shannon by Shannon v. Hansen, 469 N.W.2d 412 (Iowa 1991).
· cites it 4× “Iowa Code § 321.266 . The report filed by the driver is confidential while the report filed by a law enforcement officer is available to any party to the accident and to certain others.”
State v. Flack, 101 N.W.2d 535 (Iowa 1960).
· cites it 4× “It appears the information Moreloek obtained near the scene of the accident was, or at least could have been, embodied in his written report to the state motor vehicle department required by Code section 321.266. We assume it was included in the report.”
Martin v. Cafer, 138 N.W.2d 71 (Iowa 1965).
· cites it 4× “" Section 321.266, Code, 1962, requires written report of this type of accident be forwarded to the motor vehicle department.”
Lessenhop v. Norton, 153 N.W.2d 107 (Iowa 1967).
· cites it 2× “It would seem his investigation is directed toward evidence of a crime and is *50 nót the same' as an 'accident report filed by - an investigation officer with the public safety department under section 321.266 of the Code. Did this investigation' dr report disclose any evidence…”
State v. Sebben, 185 N.W.2d 771 (Iowa 1971).
· cites it 4× “263 and give aid and assistance, including carrying or making arrangements for the carrying of the person struck to a physician, surgeon or hospital for medical treatment under the conditions specified.”
Hamilton v. Becker, 86 N.W.2d 142 (Iowa 1957).
· cites it 4× “Section 321.266, Code, 1954 (all statutes mentioned are *522 in the 1954 Code unless otherwise stated), requires that every law officer, who in the course of his duty investigates a motor-vehicle accident, must file a written report with the State Department of Public Safety.”
Sprague v. Brodus, 60 N.W.2d 850 (Iowa 1953).
· cites it 2× “Section 321.266, Code, 1950, provides in part: “* * * every law enforcement officer who, in the regular course of duty, investigates a motor vehicle accident * * either at the time of and at the scene of the accident or thereafter by interviewing participants or witnesses shall,…”
— Iowa Code § 321.266(2) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.