Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers
Truck accident cases aren’t just bigger car accident cases — they’re far more complex with fatal or critical injuries that put your family’s future on the line. Your ability to recover every dollar you deserve depends on having a legal team with the experience, resources, and deep knowledge of the hundreds of federal and state safety regulations that govern the trucking industry.
These rules, many enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), are designed to keep unqualified, fatigued, and reckless drivers off the road. But trucking companies routinely ignore them, cut corners, and even cover up violations to protect their profits and avoid responsibility.
Our Texas Truck Accident Attorneys don’t let them get away with it. We know what violations to look for, where to find the hidden evidence, and how to use it to win against the largest trucking companies in the world — even when they try to cover it up.
Below, we explain how federal motor carrier safety regulations impact your case, and how our undefeated Texas 18 wheeler accident lawyers use these rules to secure record-setting verdicts and settlements for our clients.
What Are Federal Trucking Regulations?
Published under Title 49 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) are a comprehensive set of safety rules created by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation. These regulations apply to every commercial trucking company and driver operating in Texas and across the United States.
The FMCSRs cover nearly every aspect of the trucking industry, with one goal: to protect the public from preventable accidents caused by unsafe trucks and negligent drivers.
They establish minimum safety standards for:
- Driver qualifications and training: Including mandatory background checks, medical fitness, and minimum training hours
- Vehicle inspection, repair, and maintenance: Requiring companies to document and address defects before a truck is allowed on the road
- Hours of Service (HOS): Limiting the number of consecutive hours a driver can work to prevent fatigue-related crashes
- Drug and alcohol testing: Ensuring drivers are sober and fit to operate 80,000-pound vehicles safely
When trucking companies ignore or violate these regulations, which they often do to maximize profits, they put lives at risk and should be held fully accountable.
What Are the Most Common FMCSA Safety Violations in Texas Truck Accidents?
The most common FMCSA violations we uncover in truck accident investigations are the same ones that put the public at the greatest risk. These include:
- Driver fatigue and exceeding Hours of Service (HOS) limits: Countless drivers are cited for driving beyond the federal 8-hour and 14-hour limits each year, often under pressure to meet unrealistic delivery schedules.
- Falsifying logbooks and ELD records to hide HOS violations: Many drivers and carriers falsify Records of Duty Status (RODS) or tamper with electronic logging devices (ELDs) to make it appear they’re in compliance.
- Operating unmaintained or defective vehicles: Citations are commonly issued for unsafe equipment — including leaking or flat tires, faulty brakes, and broken lights — all of which put everyone on the road at risk.
- Hiring unqualified or medically unfit drivers: Investigations routinely uncover drivers operating without a valid Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) or driving despite medical conditions that should disqualify them.
- Failing to enforce drug and alcohol testing: Many carriers fail to test drivers as required by federal regulations, allowing impaired or habitual offenders to stay behind the wheel.
- Pressuring drivers to speed, skip rest breaks, or use phones while driving: Speeding more than 15 mph over the limit and texting or using a handheld device while driving are far more common than you’d imagine. Dangerous behaviors are often encouraged by tight schedules and inadequate oversight.
These violations are not isolated mistakes. They are calculated business decisions made to protect profits at the expense of safety.
What Trucking Crash Data Reveals About FMCSA Safety Violations
Data from the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) shows just how widespread the problem is. In the past 24 months ending July 4, 2025, the largest trucking companies in the nation (UPS, FedEx, JB Hunt, Schneider National, Knight-Swift, and Werner) have racked up thousands of citations involving fatigue, distraction, speeding, falsifying information, recklessness, and more dangerous actions.
In the same period, these companies contributed to more than 28,600 truck crashes, resulting in at least 2,668 injuries and 230 fatalities, including at least 24 fatalities in Texas. Yet the FMCSA still rates each of these companies “satisfactory” when it comes to safety.
These figures don’t even account for the countless smaller, contracted “middle mile” carriers that giants like Amazon and other shippers rely on to keep costs down — many of which cut corners on safety even more.
The fact is, most truck accidents are 100% preventable. They don’t happen because of bad luck. They happen because trucking companies and their drivers choose to ignore federal safety regulations that are specifically designed to protect the public.
In fact, one study by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) found that when a company or driver has just four FMCSR violations on record, their risk of causing a catastrophic crash more than doubles.
Do Federal Regulations Impact Your Ability to Recover Maximum Compensation in a Truck Accident Lawsuit?
Yes. Federal safety regulations often play a critical role in proving both who was at fault and the full extent of your damages. But the larger the trucking company, the harder they fight to avoid responsibility.
Only a truly experienced truck accident lawyer knows how to uncover federal safety violations and use them to hold even the biggest companies fully accountable.
At Zehl & Associates, we dig deep into the company’s entire safety record, exposing patterns of:
- Forcing drivers to exceed Hours of Service limits and drive fatigued
- Hiring unqualified, medically unfit, or inexperienced drivers
- Inadequate training and supervision
- Poor truck maintenance
- Pressuring drivers to speed or use their phones behind the wheel
- Failing to enforce drug and alcohol testing policies
By proving a company’s repeated, reckless violations, we don’t just establish fault — we prove gross negligence, opening the door to punitive damages and significantly increasing the value of your case.
In fact, we’ve recovered punitive damages against every single trucking company we’ve ever taken to trial, and won, sending a clear message: putting profits over safety will cost you more than you ever expected.
How Does a Lawyer Use Federal Regulations in 18 Wheeler Accident Cases?
Truck accident cases are often won or lost based on your legal team’s understanding and use of federal safety regulations and modern onboard technology. While many lawyers claim to handle truck accident cases, very few understand how to use the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to win. Fewer still have the ability to stand up against giant transportation corporations and recover record-setting verdicts and settlements.
At Zehl & Associates,we know the FMCSRs inside and out. And we use our expertise at every stage of your case to uncover negligence, prove gross misconduct, and secure the maximum compensation possible.
Here’s how we do it:
Investigation
We immediately assemble an accident reconstruction team to investigate the scene and secure critical evidence before it’s lost or destroyed. We obtain the truck driver’s logbooks, the truck’s black box (ECM) data, and Hours of Service records to determine whether the trucking company or its driver violated federal safety regulations and state transportation laws.
Evidence Preservation
Through aggressive discovery and subpoenas, we force companies to produce physical and electronic evidence that proves a history of disregarding safety — including dispatch records, driver qualification files, maintenance logs, and training records.
Working With the Nation’s Top Experts
We work with industry-leading accident reconstruction experts, engineers, and trucking safety specialists to demonstrate how FMCSR violations caused or contributed to the crash. Our experts analyze black box, ELD, and GPS data to prove the driver’s speed, braking, and whether they were fatigued, distracted, or impaired at the time of the crash.
Maximizing Your Case Value
We also work closely with your doctors and independent medical experts to document the full impact of your injuries, identify the best specialists to treat you, and calculate the cost of your future medical care and lost earning potential — ensuring you recover every dollar you deserve.
Demanding Maximum Compensation
By exposing FMCSR violations and proving the crash was 100% preventable, we position your case to recover the maximum compensation possible. Trucking companies know exactly who we are, what we stand for, and that they have one of two choices when we take a case: pay a settlement that fully compensates you and your family or face us at trial, where we’ve never lost.
Why You Need a Lawyer With a History Using Federal Trucking Regulations to Hold Trucking Companies Fully Accountable
After a serious truck accident, you can count on one thing: the trucking company and its team of lawyers doing everything possible to avoid responsibility. They will conceal Hours of Service violations, falsify logbooks and ELD records, claim the driver’s fatigue or distraction was outside their control, or argue that equipment defects didn’t violate federal maintenance standards. Some even destroy or “lose” critical black box and inspection data after a crash, blaming their own servers for automatically overwriting the evidence as if nothing could be done to preserve it.
At Zehl & Associates, we know every trick in their playbook and how to stop it. With Billions won, including the largest truck accident recoveries in Texas history, we’ve proven time and again that trucking companies can’t hide their misconduct from us.
We use our unmatched knowledge of the FMCSRs to:
- Prove what the truck driver could — and should — have done to prevent the crash
- Hold the trucking company fully responsible for knowingly violating safety rules
- Reject any settlement that fails to fully compensate you and your family
- Take your case to trial, where our truck accident lawyers remain undefeated
When your future is on the line, you can’t afford to hire a lawyer who’s learning federal safety regulations on the job. You need a team with the experience, track record, and determination to use those rules to win — and secure the justice and future your family deserves.
Our Recent Wins Using FMCSR Violations to Secure Record-Setting Results
- $37.5 Million verdict (2025) in Dallas, TX: Secured after proving gross negligence based on repeated federal safety violations.
- $35 Million settlement (2024), #1 largest single-plaintiff personal injury settlement in Fort Worth history: Proved the truck driver violated FMCSRs, was fatigued, texting, and illegally in the left lane when he caused the crash in Dallas.
- Record-setting (confidential) wrongful death lawsuit in Jefferson County, TX: Demonstrated the company violated FMCSRs by forcing a driver to remain behind the wheel after exceeding federal driving limits.
Billions Won: Call Our Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers at 1-888-603-3636 for a Free Consult
With Billions won for accident victims, our undefeated Texas truck accident attorneys have repeatedly secured the largest, record-breaking verdicts and settlements in Texas and U.S. history for our clients and their families. We never back down until we recover the maximum compensation possible — and we’ve never lost a case.
To hear what clients have to say about their experience with our truck accident lawyers, visit our Client Testimonial page or our firm’s YouTube Channel.
If you or a loved one were injured or tragically killed in a Texas truck accident, our attorneys can help. Please call 1-866-603-3636 or send us a confidential email via our Contact Us page.
All consultations are free, and you won’t owe us anything unless we win your case.