Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers
Each year, nearly three million roadside inspections are conducted on large trucks and 18-wheelers to enforce safety regulations designed to prevent catastrophic crashes. Yet over 58% result in violations, with nearly a million trucks or drivers pulled off the road annually for posing immediate dangers, according to Federal and State inspections on motor carriers in the last 5 years.
If you or a loved one were seriously injured in a crash, these failed inspections don’t just leave a paper trail about what went wrong and who’s to blame — they create critical evidence that an experienced lawyer can use to hold the trucking company and its driver fully accountable.
Keep reading to learn how roadside inspections work, why violations matter after a crash, and how our undefeated truck accident attorneys in Texas use them to recover the largest verdicts and settlements in history. With Billions won for accident victims, we don’t just stand up against the largest trucking companies in the world and win — we set records.
What Is a Roadside Inspection?
To legally operate on highways in Texas and across the U.S., 18-wheelers and commercial trucks must comply with an extensive set of federal and state safety regulations. These rules are enforced through roadside inspections conducted under the authority of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
Roadside inspections typically take place at weigh stations, rest areas, or random checkpoints along major trucking routes. They are carried out by state troopers, FMCSA officials, or certified members of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), who follow strict procedures based on the level of inspection being conducted.
There are seven different levels of inspection classified by the DOT and CVSA. However, the most commonly performed on large trucks in 2024 included:
- Level I Inspection: A comprehensive 37-step inspection of both the driver and the vehicle. In 2024, there were 793,000 of these inspections, which uncovered 221,148 out-of-service (OOS) violations.
- Level II Inspection: A “walk-around” inspection of the vehicle without checking components that require getting underneath the truck. These accounted for 1,056,887 inspections and 294,010 OOS violations.
- Level III Inspection: A “driver-only” inspection, which focuses on credentials and documentation. There were 1,020,183 of these inspections, leading to 59,204 OOS violations.
What Happens During a Roadside Inspection?
Depending on the type of roadside inspection, officers will typically:
- Review the driver’s CDL, medical certificate, and Hours of Service logs
- Inspect the truck’s brakes, tires, lights, steering, suspension, and cargo securement
- Check the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) for compliance and tampering
- Look for signs of fatigue, intoxication, or falsified records of duty status
When a serious violation is found—like faulty brakes, falsified logbooks, or an overworked driver—the officer can issue an out-of-service (OOS) order, immediately pulling the truck or driver off the road. This happens far more often than it should: in 2024 alone, nearly 1 in 4 vehicle inspections resulted in an OOS violation.
Before the truck can legally return to service, the carrier must fix the violation and document the repair or corrective action. In some cases, this means replacing worn-out tires or brake components; in others, it requires sending a new driver to continue the trip. But even then, many companies treat these stops as temporary setbacks, rushing the process or ignoring deeper safety problems just to get the truck moving again.
What Happens If a Truck Fails a DOT Inspection?
While there’s no simple ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ grade in roadside inspections, trucking safety violations are recorded and weighted by severity on a scale of 1 to 10 — ranging from minor infractions to serious hazards that require immediate action.
Depending on the type of violation, the consequences can be immediate and severe:
- Driver penalties: Drivers can face civil fines up to $5,000 per violation, CDL suspensions, or even disqualification—particularly for hours-of-service violations, drug or alcohol use, or falsified logs.
- CSA score impact: Each violation adds points to the company’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) score, increasing regulatory scrutiny and raising red flags for insurers, clients, and courts.
- Increased inspections: Companies with poor safety records are more likely to be targeted for frequent, unannounced roadside inspections, leading to costly delays and disruptions.
- Federal investigations: Repeated or serious violations can trigger FMCSA audits, enforcement actions, or shutdown orders.
Despite these consequences, far too many violations are ignored or go unpunished. As a result, preventable truck accidents continue to surge in Texas and across the nation, driven by companies that pressure drivers to cut corners, drive fatigued, skip training, or operate unsafe vehicles — knowing they’ll likely get away with it.
What Are The Most Common Trucking Safety Violations?
Inspections since 2021 have uncovered over 23 million violations — including 4.1 million serious “out-of-service” violations that immediately removed dangerous trucks and unfit drivers from the road before they could cause a crash, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) data.
Some of the most common violations recorded over the past 24 months, per the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS), include:
- Driving beyond federal 8- and 14-hour service limits
- Falsifying logbooks or ELD data to hide HOS violations
- Operating defective vehicles with flat or leaking tires, faulty brakes, or broken lights
- Driving without a valid Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) or with disqualifying medical conditions
- Speeding more than 15 mph over the posted limit
- Texting or using handheld devices while behind the wheel
These are not minor technicalities—they’re dangerous, ongoing safety failures. Yet for every unsafe truck or reckless driver flagged, many more slip through the cracks, driving a surge in fatal truck crashes nationwide.
Trucking Safety Violations Are on The Rise
The number of large truck violations has grown sharply over the last four years, from 4.7 million in 2021 to over 5.15 million in 2024. In 2024 alone, the FMCSA recorded over 30,000 more than in 2023 — despite conducting 7,000 fewer inspections.
Behind the growing number of violations are companies and drivers prioritizing profits over safety. No trucking company has a spotless record — not even industry giants like UPS or FedEx, which have amassed thousands of citations for speeding, fatigue, distraction, falsified records, and reckless driving.
Worse, many large carriers now rely on third-party contractors to meet ever-tightening shipping quotas and deadlines. These subcontracted drivers are often less experienced and have safety records well below industry standards. One recent CBS News analysis found that Amazon’s middle-mile delivery contractors had monthly violation rates twice those of other carriers.
This growing dependence on lower-cost, high-turnover drivers not only increases crash risk, but it also allows major companies to distance themselves from responsibility when their subcontractors cause serious accidents.
The truth is, even when a trucking company receives a “satisfactory” safety rating from the FMCSA, post-crash investigations often uncover a long and well-documented pattern of safety violations that stretch back months or even years.
How Zehl & Associates Uses Failed Inspections to Win Record-Setting Recoveries
After a crash, trucking companies will stop at nothing to avoid responsibility and pay you as little as possible — minimizing equipment defects, calling violations one-time mistakes, even falsifying records or claiming data was overwritten or disappeared.
At Zehl & Associates, we don’t let them get away with it.
We know that every time a truck is pulled over for a roadside inspection, it creates a snapshot of that company’s safety culture — or lack thereof.
And we know how to use this evidence to win:
- We act immediately to preserve inspection records, maintenance reports, black box data, and other critical evidence before the trucking company has a chance to hide or destroy it.
- We expose repeat safety violations documented during roadside inspections — including excessive hours behind the wheel, equipment defects, and unlicensed or medically disqualified drivers — to expose what really happened
- We hold companies fully accountable for pressuring drivers to violate Hours of Service rules, skip inspections, or ignore known defects — all of which are often flagged in past inspection reports.
- We refuse to let large companies avoid responsibility by hiding behind third-party contractors or subcontractors when those drivers or trucks cause crashes.
- We prepare every case for trial, so if the company refuses to offer a settlement that fully compensates you for all of your injuries and losses, they must face us in the courtroom, where we’ve never lost a case
In every case we’ve taken to trial, we’ve uncovered what the trucking company won’t admit: they knew the risks, ignored the law, and chose profits over people.
As a result, we’ve recovered Billions for our clients, including the largest record-setting verdicts and settlements — and punitive damages — against every major trucking company we’ve ever faced in court.
And we do it by standing beside our clients every step of the way: connecting them with top medical specialists, covering expenses while the case is pending, and offering around-the-clock support. Hear why our former clients say, “Zehl treats you like family.”
Contact the Undefeated Houston Truck Accident Lawyers from Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers for Help Today, Call 1-888-603-3636
Having successfully represented thousands of semi-truck and commercial vehicle accident victims across Texas and the United States, our undefeated truck accident attorneys have earned a national reputation for standing up against the largest transportation companies in the world and not just winning, but recovering record-setting results on behalf of our clients.
For more information, please contact our Undefeated truck accident attorneys in Houston, Texas, at Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers to schedule a free consultation today.
We’ll answer your questions, explain your options, and ensure you have all the information you need to make the best decision for you and your family.
We proudly serve Harris County, Midland County, and throughout the state of Texas. We are located in Houston and Midland and throughout the state of Texas:
Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers – Houston
2700 Post Oak Blvd #1000, Houston, TX 77056
(888) 603-3636
Open 24 hours
Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers – Midland
306 W Wall St Suite 701, Midland, TX 79701
(432) 220-0000
Open 24 hours