1. A peace officer is authorized to stop a vehicle to require exhibition of the driver’s license of the driver, to serve a summons or memorandum of traffic violation, to inspect the condition of the vehicle, to inspect the vehicle with reference to size, weight, cargo, log book, bills of lading or other manifest of employment, tires, and safety equipment, or to inspect the registration certificate, the compensation certificate, travel order, or permit of the vehicle.
2. A peace officer having probable cause to stop a vehicle may require exhibition of the proof of financial liability coverage card issued for the vehicle if the vehicle is a motor vehicle registered in this state. \n Tue Dec 09 22:17:01 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 321 (137, 2) 267 MOTOR VEHICLES AND LAW OF THE ROAD, §321.493\n\n 3. a. All peace officers as defined in section 801.4, subsection 11, paragraphs “a”, “b”, “c”, and “h” may, having reasonable grounds that equipment violations exist, conduct spot inspections.
b. The department may designate employees under the supervision of the department’s administrator of motor vehicles to conduct spot inspections. [C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §321.492] 84 Acts, ch 1305, §69; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §1936; 97 Acts, ch 139, §6, 7, 17, 18; 98 Acts, ch 1073, §8, 9; 98 Acts, ch 1100, §48; 98 Acts, ch 1121, §8; 2016 Acts, ch 1011, §51 \n
Notes of Decisions
State of Iowa v. Jeremy M. Werner, 919 N.W.2d 375 (Iowa 2018).
· cites it 14× “The court noted that Iowa Code section 321.492 authorizes a peace officer "to stop a vehicle to require exhibition of the driver's license of the driver" and "to serve a summons or memorandum of traffic violation.”
State v. A-1 Disposal, 415 N.W.2d 595 (Iowa 1987).
· cites it 10× “Finally, the legislature made it clear that peace officers, including DOT peace officers, do not need reasonable cause to stop vehicles for weight inspections under Iowa Code section 321.492 which was enacted in 1943.”
State v. Heminover, 619 N.W.2d 353 (Iowa 2000).
· cites it 4× “2d at 757 . We disposed of that contention quickly, concluding the reason given was pretextual.”
State v. Cooley, 229 N.W.2d 755 (Iowa 1975).
· cites it 5× “That objection was overruled, this time on the premise Code § 321.492, quoted infra, authorized a stop of the vehicle.”
State v. Donnell, 239 N.W.2d 575 (Iowa 1976).
· cites it 2× “He was motivated by the circumstances above described, not by any traffic violation, mechanical defect or routine purpose to invoke § 321.492, The Code (permitting stops for license check and other specified reasons).”
State of Iowa v. Jeremy M. Werner (Iowa 2018).
· cites it 10× “The court noted that Iowa Code section 321.492 authorizes a peace officer “to stop a vehicle to require exhibition of the driver’s license of the driver” and “to serve a summons or memorandum of traffic violation.”
Iowa Code § 321.492(1): 2 cases
State of Iowa v. Jeremy M. Werner, 919 N.W.2d 375 (Iowa 2018).
“The court noted that Iowa Code section 321.492 authorizes a peace officer "to stop a vehicle to require exhibition of the driver's license of the driver" and "to serve a summons or memorandum of traffic violation.”
State of Iowa v. Jeremy M. Werner (Iowa 2018).
“The court noted that Iowa Code section 321.492 authorizes a peace officer “to stop a vehicle to require exhibition of the driver’s license of the driver” and “to serve a summons or memorandum of traffic violation.”
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.