About W.S. Bill Collins
Five decades behind the wheel. Three decades in the classroom. One standard for every opinion: it has to hold up.
Most expert witnesses in commercial vehicle litigation came to the industry through regulation. Bill Collins came to regulation through the industry.
Fifty-one years as a Class A CDL holder. Nearly three decades running a commercial truck driving school and training drivers on the exact federal regulations that govern the cases he now analyzes. A fleet management background that required him to apply FMCSA compliance requirements in practice, not just explain them in a classroom. That combination, operational experience, instructional depth, and management responsibility, is what separates his testimony from someone who read the regulations carefully and decided to call themselves an expert.
He did not seek out expert witness work. It found him. An attorney who knew his background asked for his analysis on a commercial vehicle case. More requests followed, unsolicited, from attorneys who had heard the same thing. He has since been retained in multiple commercial vehicle litigation matters by both plaintiff and defense counsel. That is still how most engagements begin.
The Career Behind the Credentials
Bill began his professional life as a combat engineer in the United States Army. The discipline and operational precision that career required carried directly into what came next.
After his service, he obtained his Class A CDL and spent years operating commercial vehicles before moving into driver training. He provided instruction to civilian drivers and law enforcement personnel before founding Interstate Truck Driving School, a commercial driver training program he built and operated for nearly three decades. Over the course of that career he trained more than 10,000 CDL students, giving him direct, practical insight into driver behavior, training standards, and the gap between what federal regulations require and how drivers actually operate under them.
That gap is where most commercial vehicle litigation lives. A driver who understood the HOS rules and falsified logs anyway is a different case than one who genuinely did not understand the detention time implications of a four-hour dock wait. An instructor who has trained 10,000 drivers knows the difference.
FMCSA Instruction and Regulatory Depth
Twenty-eight years as a certified FMCSA instructor means Bill has spent nearly three decades teaching 49 CFR Parts 350 through 399 to commercial drivers and carriers, including every significant regulatory update across that period. The ELD mandate, revised HOS rules, Entry-Level Driver Training requirements, personal conveyance guidance changes, and driver qualification standard revisions all occurred within his instructional career. He did not read about those changes after the fact. He incorporated them into active training programs as they took effect.
That instructional background produces two things that matter in litigation. The first is regulatory knowledge that is operational rather than academic, built from explaining rules to people who had to apply them in practice, not from reading the CFR in isolation. The second is the ability to take technically complex federal requirements and make them understandable to someone with no trucking background. That skill is what separates adequate expert testimony from testimony a jury can actually follow and retain. The full range of subject matter is summarized in his areas of expertise.
Fleet Management and Carrier Operations
Running a fleet of 24 commercial vehicles under FMCSA compliance requirements is not a background detail. It is direct operational experience in the carrier management decisions that commercial vehicle litigation frequently puts at issue.
Bill managed driver qualification processes, maintained compliance records, handled DOT audit preparation, and operated a carrier subject to the same federal safety requirements he now analyzes as an expert. Every DOT audit across that period was passed. Zero reportable collisions. Zero insurance claims. That record was not accidental. It was the result of applying the same standards he teaches and now testifies about.
When he analyzes a carrier's dispatch practices, qualification file, or maintenance history in litigation, he is evaluating those decisions against a standard he has had to meet himself. That is a different analytical foundation than one built entirely from reviewing other carriers' records. The kinds of disputes that draw on that experience are detailed under case types.
Industry Involvement
Bill has maintained active involvement in the commercial trucking industry beyond his driving and instructional work. Through his company he holds membership in the Minnesota Trucking Association, keeping him connected to current regulatory developments and industry changes affecting carriers throughout the region.
He has been an active member of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association, serving on multiple committees and participating in lobbying efforts at both the state and federal level. That work focused specifically on legislation aimed at improving safety standards on public roads, the same standards that form the basis of his expert analysis in litigation. Regulatory frameworks he helped shape professionally are frameworks he now applies forensically.
That level of industry involvement is not common among expert witnesses in this space. It reflects sustained engagement with the trucking industry at the regulatory and operational level, not a credential assembled after the fact to support an expert witness practice.
How He Approaches Expert Work
Bill works plaintiff and defense. That is not a marketing position. It reflects how the work is actually done. His opinions are based on what the records show and what the FMCSA regulations require. Not on the theory the retaining attorney is advancing.
Cases where the evidence supports a defensible opinion receive that opinion, documented specifically and built to withstand cross-examination. Cases where the evidence does not support the theory are declined. That practice has a direct effect on the value of the opinions he does provide. An attorney who receives a favorable preliminary assessment knows it reflects a genuine evaluation of the records, not a preliminary opinion shaped by whoever sent the retainer check. The full range of expert witness services is structured around that practice.
His testimony is grounded in firsthand operational experience. When he explains what a driver should have known about detention time and the 14-hour clock, it comes from 51 years of operating under the same rules. When he testifies about what a responsible carrier's qualification process looks like, it comes from managing one. Opposing counsel can challenge the regulatory interpretation or the evidence relied on. The operational foundation of the opinion is not something that can be effectively attacked on cross-examination, because it is not theoretical.
Full Credentials
- Class A CDL
- 51 Years, Active
- FMCSA Instructor
- 28 Years, Certified
- CDL Students Trained
- 10,000+
- Interstate Truck Driving School
- Former Owner and Operator
- Fleet Management
- 24 Commercial Vehicles
- DOT Audits
- All Passed
- Reportable Collisions
- Zero
- Insurance Claims
- Zero
- Military Service
- U.S. Army, Combat Engineer
- Minnesota Trucking Association
- Member
- Commercial Vehicle Training Association
- Committee Member
- Lobbying Experience
- State and Federal, Transportation Safety Legislation
- Expert Witness Retention
- Multiple Commercial Vehicle Litigation Cases, Plaintiff and Defense
- Deposition and Trial Testimony
- Yes
- Available
- Midwest and Southwest, Remote Review Nationwide
Based in West St. Paul, MN
Bill is based in West St. Paul, MN and available to travel throughout the Midwest and Southwest for depositions, site visits, and trial testimony. Remote case review and consultation are available for attorneys in any location.
A second office location in Tucson, AZ is planned, extending his Southwest presence for in-person consultation and deposition availability.
He is available for consultations on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All inquiries receive a response within one business day.
Ready to Discuss Your Case
Bill personally reviews all submitted materials and responds within one business day. No obligation. All inquiries are confidential.
Plaintiff and defense. Available Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.