Tailgaters beware: Riley County police now have a new way of telling just how closely one vehicle is following another. They'll begin to use it to write tickets next month. Riley County Police Captain Tim Hegerty says the department has purchased something called a "TruCam." And while the $5,300 device looks like a regular radar gun, it can actually measure distances in both feet and seconds.
Hegerty says the TruCam will be used all over the city and county, but there will be a concentrated effort to check on drivers along K-18 between Manhattan and Ogden, where commuter traffic is often heavy. Following too closely has been identified as a major contributor to the 192 crashes that have occurred along that stretch of highway in the last three years.