“Beating distracted driving will take a wholesale change in our driving culture,” says National Transportation Safety Board, (NTSB) Acting Chairman Robert Sumwalt.

The NTSB hopes a roundtable discussion on distracted driving that features the stories of crash victims will help bring that change about.

In collaboration with Stopdistractions.org, DRIVE SMART Virginia and the National Safety Council, the NTSB will host its second roundtable on distracted driving to facilitate discussion about the life-threatening problem and specific solutions for eliminating distracted driving on our highways.

More than 15 survivor advocates of distracted-driving crashes are scheduled to join law enforcement officers, insurance industry representatives, safety advocates, and lawmakers April 26, 2017, at the “Act to End Distracted Driving” roundtable, an event designed to improve public awareness about the deadly problem and establish better coordination among state and local governments, employer fleets, and law enforcement.

Sumwalt will moderate the discussion. “The NTSB can’t write a recommendation to change our whole driving culture, but we can facilitate action toward doing so,” he says.

Nearly 10 percent of traffic deaths involve distracted drivers. That’s about 4,000 deaths that are completely preventable, that never have to happen. The roundtable discussion highlights victims’ stories in an effort to address the specific steps and actions needed to prevent such tragic crashes.

“Many participants have already turned a deeply tragic and personal story into positive change,” Sumwalt said. “We want to help them share what’s working so they can have an even greater effect on transportation safety.”

The one-day roundtable event is scheduled to begin at 9a.m., in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center. A video featuring Acting Chairman Sumwalt discussing distracted driving is available on the NTSB YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/GwWiQrOGvDc.

The final agenda for the roundtable is available online at https://go.usa.gov/x5aC9.

The event is also scheduled to be webcast live. A link to the webcast will be available on the day of the roundtable at http://ntsb.capitolconnection.org/. An archive of the webcast will be available on the NTSB website after the event.

The Twitter hashtag for this event is #Act2EndDD.