DEHRADUN: Artificial intelligence may be transforming everyday life, but its use in traffic enforcement is creating unexpected problems for motorists in Uttarakhand’s Rudrapur.
AI-enabled cameras installed along national and state highways and major roads are mistakenly identifying bags, boxes, and sacks carried on two-wheelers as human passengers. The automated system then issues challans for triple riding, even when only two people are riding the vehicle.
Several such complaints have reached the Rudrapur Regional Transport Office. In two or three such cases, riders had placed everyday items between the driver and the pillion passenger while travelling on motorcycles or scooters.
Unable to distinguish the cargo from a person, the camera interpreted its shape as that of a third rider and automatically generated a penalty.
Motorists said they became aware of the alleged violation only after receiving challans. “We had not violated any traffic rule and could not understand why a challan had been issued,” one affected motorist said. The technology has also reportedly caused difficulties for members of the Sikh community.
State transport officials have received two or three complaints in which Sikh riders wearing smaller turbans or cloth pieces were issued challans for not wearing helmets.