What To Do After a Truck Accident in Texas

Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers

After a truck crash, your first priority is safety. Move to a secure location, call 911, and get medical help right away, even if you don’t think you’re seriously hurt. The actions you take immediately following an 18-wheeler accident can and will determine everything about your recovery: your health, your financial future, and your ability to hold the trucking company and its insurers fully accountable.

At Zehl & Associates, our Undefeated Truck Accident Lawyers have seen firsthand how hard trucking and transportation corporations fight to avoid responsibility. That’s why we move even faster and fight even harder — to protect your family, your rights, and your future. With Billions won for crash victims across Texas, we know exactly how to take on the biggest trucking giants in the country and not just win — but set records.

Read on to learn what to do in the moments, days, and weeks after the crash and how we can help.

What Should I Do Immediately After a Truck or 18-Wheeler Accident?

The moments after a truck crash are chaotic, but what you do next will likely determine whether you and your family are able to recover the damages you deserve. Time is not on your side.

Follow these actions to protect yourself:

Ensure You’re Safe & Move Out of Traffic (if Possible): Move to a secure location, turn on hazard lights, and get out of the roadway. Check yourself and passengers for injuries. Even minor pain can signal serious trauma.
Call 911 & Report the Crash to Law Enforcement: Police reports are critical evidence. Stick to the facts only, and never admit fault. Keep in mind that truck drivers are often trained to blame the other driver — a written crash report will help you refute their story and prove that he or she was at fault.
Seek Medical Attention — Even if You Don’t Think You’re Hurt: Some injuries, like internal bleeding or concussions, don’t show symptoms right away. Early documentation protects your health and your legal claim.
Document the Scene of the Crash: Take photos of vehicles, skid marks, road conditions, truck company logos, and your injuries. Evidence captured immediately can help you and your lawyer prove what really happened.
Exchange Information With all Parties Involved: Get names, contact info, insurance details, CDL and USDOT numbers, and vehicle information. If there are witnesses, collect their contact info too.
Report the Crash to Your Insurance Company: Prompt notification is important, but provide facts only and avoid speculation. Guessing or assuming details can be used against you later and may reduce the value of your claim.
DO NOT Speak to or Make a Statement to the Truck Company’s Insurance Adjusters: These adjusters will call you after the crash, pretending to be on your side. However, they work for the trucking company and have one goal: to avoid responsibility by blaming you and minimizing your injuries. Anything you say can be used to undervalue your claim. Contact a lawyer first.
Contact a Lawyer As Soon As Possible: Trucking companies move fast to hide or destroy evidence, discredit your injuries and witnesses, and shift the blame onto you. Only a skilled truck accident attorney knows how to immediately protect your rights and demand the full compensation you are entitled to.

Taking these steps immediately can preserve critical evidence, protect your rights, and give you leverage against trucking companies and insurers that will move fast to limit your compensation.

What To Do if You or a Loved One Is in the Hospital or Back at Home After a Truck Crash

Even while you focus on healing, the steps you take now can protect your health, preserve your legal rights, and help build the strongest possible foundation if you later pursue a claim.

Keep in mind that in Texas, the statute of limitations governing personal injury lawsuits is typically two years from the date of the accident. But acting quickly is critical — waiting too long creates bigger obstacles. Worse, you could risk giving up your right to recover the full compensation you deserve.

These actions help safeguard your legal options and rights:

Keep All Medical Appointments and Follow-Up Care: Attend every appointment, physical therapy session, and specialist visit. Missed or inconsistent care can give insurers an excuse to undervalue your injuries.
Keep all medical records. Save discharge papers, prescriptions, and follow-up appointments. These documents show the full scope of your injuries. Need help? Here’s an easy guide on how to obtain your medical records.
Track all expenses: Document medical bills, prescriptions, lost wages, transportation, and other accident-related costs.
Log Your Symptoms & Challenges in a Journal: Record pain levels, mobility issues, and how your injuries impact daily routines. This creates a clear record of your recovery for your case.
Preserve Your Vehicle & Evidence: Don’t make repairs or dispose of damaged property until your attorney reviews it. Photos, video, and physical evidence can strengthen your claim.
NEVER speak to the trucking company’s insurers without legal guidance: Their only goal is to pay you as little as possible for your injuries and losses. Let your lawyer handle all communication.
Avoid social media: Insurance adjusters monitor posts for any signs that downplay your injuries or recovery. The safest way to protect yourself is to not post anything about your injuries, the accident, or how it’s affected you on any kind of social media account.
Contact a lawyer: An experienced truck accident attorney will handle every step to build the strongest case possible: preserving critical evidence, investigating what really happened, and pursuing maximum compensation. So you can focus on what matters most.

Recovery is about more than your body—it’s about protecting your future. Following these steps ensures that you and your family are safe, supported, and prepared to fight back against trucking companies and insurers that will do everything they can to pay you as little as possible.

How Truck Accidents Are Different Than Car Accidents — And Why That Matters for Seeking Justice & Compensation

Truck accidents aren’t like typical car crashes — not even close. A fully loaded 18-wheeler can weigh up to 90,000 pounds, and when that much force collides with a passenger vehicle, the results are often devastating.

Tragically, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data shows that occupants of passenger vehicles — not truck drivers — disproportionately bear the brunt of truck crashes, accounting for 70% of fatalities and injuries in 2023 alone, with 3,837 lives lost and 107,636 more injured. Many of these victims required immediate emergency care, from ER visits to ambulance rides or even airlifts, with costs ranging from thousands into the millions.

Truck accident cases are also far more complex than ordinary wrecks. They are among the most high-stakes cases in personal injury law — with teams of defense attorneys ready to fight at every turn — and require a legal team with the proven resources, experience, and focus to handle:

Multiple At-Fault Parties: From the truck driver to the carrier, the parts manufacturer, and even the company that loaded the cargo — each may share responsibility for the crash.
Complex State and Federal Regulations: Trucking companies must follow strict safety laws covering hours of service, vehicle maintenance, and weight limits. But they routinely ignore them, cut corners, and even conceal violations to protect their profits and avoid responsibility. Proving violations is key to holding them accountable.
Specialized Insurance Policies: Commercial carriers often have layers of insurance coverage, each designed to minimize payouts and delay your recovery.
Severe and Lasting Injuries: The physical, emotional, and financial impact of an 18-wheeler crash can last a lifetime — and demands full compensation, not quick settlements.
Trucking Industry Tactics: From destroying or “losing” critical evidence to pressuring victims into quickly accepting far less compensation than they deserve, trucking companies and their insurers will stop at nothing to avoid responsibility after a crash. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to uncover the truth.
Multi-Million-Dollar Recoveries: Due to the severity of injuries involved, many truck accident cases involve substantial settlements or verdicts. Pursuing these requires specialized expertise, but also the willingness and ability of your team to go up against the largest companies at trial and beat them.

Few law firms have the resources, trial experience, or results to take a trucking company to court and win. Fewer still have done it time and again, recovering the largest record-setting verdicts and settlements in history along the way. That’s exactly what we do at Zehl & Associates. And that’s why we’re the Texas law firm that trucking companies fear.

How Zehl & Associates Recovers Maximum Compensation After a TX Truck Accident

Every case we take is fully prepared for trial from day one, ensuring the companies responsible take our clients far more seriously from the get go. They know we’ll never settle for less than you deserve. As a result, we have repeatedly recovered the largest commercial truck accident recoveries in Texas year after year.

Our approach is built around one goal: maximizing your recovery while protecting your future.

We hold every responsible party accountable. From the driver and carrier to the manufacturers and cargo loaders, we leave no stone unturned in proving fault.
We uncover safety violations and systemic failures. Our investigations have revealed repeated safety lapses and federal regulation violations in nearly every case we’ve taken to trial — evidence that’s led to record-setting verdicts.
We navigate complex insurance coverage. From MCS-90 endorsements to layered excess liability policies, we know how to secure every dollar available under each policy.
We connect you with leading medical specialists. The doctors we work with not only treat your injuries but also help us prove the full, lasting impact of your trauma — ensuring you recover the maximum compensation possible.
We act fast to preserve evidence and expose industry tactics. Our trial lawyers move immediately after a crash to gather critical data like dash cam footage and the driver’s logbook before trucking companies can hide or destroy it, and we know how to protect you if the police report was wrong.
We cover your reasonable living expenses while your case is pending. You shouldn’t have to choose between paying your bills and fighting for justice — and with us, you won’t.
We never back down. When trucking companies face us, they know they have two options: pay the full compensation our client deserves for every injury and loss, or face us at trial — where we’ve never lost a case and where they’re going to have to pay far more than they’re used to paying.

When you choose Zehl & Associates, you’re choosing a team with the resources, results, and relentless commitment to help you rebuild your life and stand by you every step of the way.

Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Attorneys: 1-888-603-3636 for a Free Consult

With Billions won for accident victims, our undefeated Truck Accident Lawyers have successfully represented thousands of 18-wheeler crash victims across Texas and the United States against the largest trucking and transportation companies in the world. Our record includes the the #1 largest truck accident verdict in Texas (2024) and the #1 largest single-plaintiff personal injury settlement in Fort Worth history (2025). And as our results demonstrate, we don’t just win — we set records.

If you or a loved one were injured or tragically killed in a truck or 18-wheeler accident, call 1-888-603-3636 or send us a confidential email through our Contact Us form.

We’ll answer your questions, explain your rights, and provide you with the information you need to decide what’s best for you and your family.

All consultations are free, and because we work on a contingency fee, you won’t owe us a dime unless we win your case.