Someone is injured in a crash involving your private car in Iowa. Which law-enforcement notification duty applies?
Correct answer: Immediately use the quickest means to notify the county sheriff, nearest state-patrol office, or a peace officer as near as practicable to the crash.
An injury or death triggers immediate notice by the quickest means to one of the law-enforcement recipients specified in the statute. A later DOT report or an insurance claim does not replace that notice, and the rule does not require waiting for a serious-injury diagnosis.
Source: Iowa Code 2026, chapter 321, section 321.266(1), Reporting accidents, reader lines 10619–10623; displayed section history through 2023 Acts chapter 85, section 11. Physical PDF page 184; printed page matches. Code PDF generated December 9, 2025; actual official body read and question reviewed October 1, 2026. These selected duties are unchanged by 2026 Iowa Acts chapter 1118, Division II, sections 9 and 13. Its property-damage threshold, uninsured-vehicle trigger and electronic-format transition are excluded pending confirmation of the special applicability condition; no full 2026 amendment audit is claimed. ↗
Your private car was involved in an Iowa crash that injured someone. No law-enforcement agency investigates the crash. What is your written-report duty to Iowa DOT?
Correct answer: Submit the required accident report to DOT within 72 hours after the crash.
For an injury or fatal crash not investigated by a law-enforcement agency, the driver must submit the required written report to DOT within 72 hours after the accident. This is separate from immediate notice to law enforcement. Giving the details to an insurer does not replace the report to DOT.
Source: Iowa Code 2026, chapter 321, section 321.266(2), Reporting accidents, reader lines 10624–10628; deadline and investigation exception retained in 2026 Acts chapter 1118, section 9, physical page 2, reader lines 64–70. Physical PDF page 184; printed page matches. Code PDF generated December 9, 2025; actual official body read and question reviewed October 1, 2026. These selected duties are unchanged by 2026 Iowa Acts chapter 1118, Division II, sections 9 and 13. Its property-damage threshold, uninsured-vehicle trigger and electronic-format transition are excluded pending confirmation of the special applicability condition; no full 2026 amendment audit is claimed. ↗
A law-enforcement agency actually investigates an Iowa injury crash involving your private car. You have already given the required immediate notice. Under the ordinary driver-report rule, must you also send a separate accident report to DOT?
Correct answer: No. The rule does not require the separate driver report when a law-enforcement agency investigates the crash.
Section 321.266(2) expressly provides the investigation exception. It depends on an actual agency investigation, not merely a call to police, and does not depend on a citation or agreement about fault. Other duties at the crash scene are not erased by this reporting exception.
Source: Iowa Code 2026, chapter 321, section 321.266(2), final sentence, reader lines 10627–10628; exception retained in 2026 Acts chapter 1118, section 9, physical page 2, reader lines 69–70. Physical PDF page 184; printed page matches. Code PDF generated December 9, 2025; actual official body read and question reviewed October 1, 2026. These selected duties are unchanged by 2026 Iowa Acts chapter 1118, Division II, sections 9 and 13. Its property-damage threshold, uninsured-vehicle trigger and electronic-format transition are excluded pending confirmation of the special applicability condition; no full 2026 amendment audit is claimed. ↗
An Iowa injury crash requires a report to DOT and has not been investigated by a law-enforcement agency. The driver is physically unable to make the report, but an adult passenger who was in the car during the crash is capable of doing so. What must that passenger do?
Correct answer: Make the required report or cause it to be made.
When the driver is physically incapable of making a required accident report, a capable occupant who was in the vehicle at the time must make or cause the report to be made. The driver’s physical incapacity does not by itself cancel the reporting duty.
Source: Iowa Code 2026, chapter 321, section 321.268, Driver unable to report, complete paragraph and history, reader lines 10679–10683; required injury-report premise from section 321.266(2), physical page 184. Physical PDF page 185; printed page matches. Code PDF generated December 9, 2025; actual official body read and question reviewed October 1, 2026. These selected duties are unchanged by 2026 Iowa Acts chapter 1118, Division II, sections 9 and 13. Its property-damage threshold, uninsured-vehicle trigger and electronic-format transition are excluded pending confirmation of the special applicability condition; no full 2026 amendment audit is claimed. ↗
