Iowa
Accident Reports

If you're in an accident in Iowa that causes death, personal injury, or property damage totaling $1,500 or more, you must report it. The only exception is if a law enforcement agency investigates the accident and files a report. If this doesn't happen, you must return an accident report form within 72 hours or risk suspension of your driving privileges.

The form you should fill out is an Iowa Accident Report form. It is a four-page document, of which the last two pages are to be filled out, signed, and mailed to:

When requesting your accident report in Iowa, what information you'll need to provide depends on what type of report you're requesting.

If you're requesting an officer's report, you will need to fill out a “Request for Copy of Investigating Officer's Report of an Accident” form, which will ask for the following information:

• Who the request is made for
• Date and time accident occurred
• County accident occurred along with the approximate location
• Name and social security numbers or drivers license numbers of driver(s) involved
• The reason you're eligible to obtain the report (one of the following options):
  • I was party to the accident
  • I represent the insurance company whose injured was party to the accident
  • I am an attorney for a party to this accident

If you're requesting a driver's report that you previously filled out, you will need to provide:

• Driver's license number
• Complete mailing address
• Date of accident

To request a report, you will need to be allowed to through state law. For a copy of an officer's report, you will need to be an involved party, their attorney, insurance company, or insurance agent. For a copy of a driver's report, you must be the driver who completed the report in the first place.

Because of the different types of reports available in Iowa, you'll need to consider what you need the report for. If it's for legal purposes, like a lawsuit, consult with your legal counsel about what report(s) you'll need to provide copies of. In many cases, you will need to obtain an officer's report, but if you're just trying to obtain a copy of the driver's report you filled out for your own records, you can do that as well.

Data from this report is used for many purposes including:

• Identifying locations with a large number of crashes.
• Improving dangerous highways and intersections.
• Developing highway safety public information programs.
• Developing programs to save lives and reduce highway injuries.

A traffic collision occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Traffic collisions often result in injury, death, and property damage.