AI Cameras In Bengaluru Issue Wrong Fine After Getting Confused Between Shirt And Seatbelt Colors

Most parts of the city now have cameras installed at traffic signals. These cameras act as eyes for the police to check for traffic violations and other problems. Most cities now have AI cameras too, which automatically detect violations, take pictures, and issue fines to the violators. However, as this is an automated system, there are times when the camera takes pictures and issues false tickets. Here we have one such incident from Bengaluru where the AI camera issued a wrong fine to a driver who was wearing a seatbelt of the same shade as his shirt.

The images have been shared by a user on Reddit. The image shows a car moving through a busy road in Bengaluru city. The exact location where this happened is not known. It looks like the same car driver was issued a false ticket or fine twice. We see a small image inside the first one. According to the post, the camera took the picture because it detected a violation.

The camera saw that the driver was not wearing a seatbelt while driving the car. However, if you look at the images, the driver is wearing a seatbelt. So what happened? The AI camera could not detect the seatbelt of the car because it is finished in the same shade as the shirt of the driver. Usually, cars in India come with seatbelts in black.

If you opt for premium cars, the seatbelts are often finished in beige or lighter shades. This is done intentionally to match the interior theme. However, the AI camera is not programmed to detect this, and that is why the cameras issued a false ticket. This is not the first time we have come across an issue like this.

In Kerala, where the state government installed over 700 AI cameras to control the number of fatalities in road accidents, we saw similar issues.

The AI cameras were not working properly, and they were not reading the registration numbers correctly. In many cases, the camera was detecting the rivet or the screw on the number plate as a zero and was issuing fines to the wrong owners.

We feel something like that might have happened in this case too. The car owner can actually take this issue to the nearest traffic police station and raise the issue. There have been times when the traffic police authorities have revoked or canceled fines that were issued to the owners wrongfully. In Kerala, an AI camera had detected the speed of a bike as 1240 kmph.

Initially, the authorities told the owner that the fine might have been for not wearing a helmet and that the speed recorded by the camera was not right. However, it was later revealed that the biker had not violated any rules and was wrongfully fined. The fine was later canceled by the authorities.

The AI camera was implemented to automate the process. It would detect violations and send pictures to the control room, where officers would issue challans after reviewing the images. However, the system initially had several issues that were later fixed. Now, an officer in the enforcement department reviews the images before issuing the challan.