WASHINGTON -- A new bill in Congress would give buses and heavy-duty trucks a tax break for using safety technologies, including collision and lane departure warning gear, as well as stability control and brake-stroke monitoring systems.

"The goal is to get safety systems into service as quickly as possible," said Timothy Kraus, president and COO of the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association.

The Commercial Motor Vehicle Advanced Safety Technology Act, as it is called, would give a corporate income tax credit equal to 50 percent of the cost of a qualified safety system, up to $1,500.

The maximum credit for each vehicle would be $3,500, and a fleet would be limited to a maximum credit of $350,000 per year. The measure would expire at the end of 2012.

The benefit would apply to intercity, school and public transit buses, as well as trucks weighing more than 26,000 pounds. It would start when the bill is signed into law; there is no provision for retroactive benefits.

The bill also gives the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the authority to add safety systems to the list.

The legislation, H.R. 3820, was introduced by Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif.; Ron Lewis, R-Ky.; Heath Shuler, D-N.C.; Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio; Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.; Sander Levin, D-Mich.; Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich.

The Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association and its affiliate, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, worked with Thompson to draft and introduce the measure, which is being studied by the legislative and regulatory committee of the United Motorcoach Association.

"This type of safety technology incentive is supported by the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Mark V. Rosenker; the Government Accountability Office, and the USDOT inspector general as a significant step that has the potential to reduce crashes and fatalities," said Ken Presley, vice president of industry relations at UMA.

"The NTSB chairman told Sen. Patty Murray (D-Calif.) at a USDOT appropriations hearing earlier this year that he believed the tax incentive approach would result in more widespread use of this technology by the industry much sooner than going through the usual DOT rulemaking process," Presley noted.

Since the bill is both a safety and a tax bill, the key committees of jurisdiction in the House are Ways and Means, and Transportation and Infrastructure. In the Senate, the committees on Finance, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation will have jurisdiction.

"The bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate," Presley pointed out. "No doubt it has a long way to go, but is likely legislation we can support."

Under the proposal, the manufacturer would have to certify that the system is appropriate for the vehicle and will work if it is properly installed. If the system is retrofitted, the installer will have to certify that it works.

It is too early to know how the bill will be received in Congress. The idea of tax incentives for safety gear has long been attractive to the safety community, but negotiations in Congress will be complicated by the necessity of coming up with funding to balance the loss of income to the treasury.