Bengaluru man gets challan for helmetless rider, but his 'passenger' was a guitar

A guitar became an unlikely traffic offender in Bengaluru after an AI-powered camera mistook it for a helmet less pillion rider and issued a Rs 500 challan.

Souvik Dutta was riding his wife’s two-wheeler alone, wearing a helmet and minding his own business, when the AI-powered traffic camera seemingly spotted a helmet less pillion rider. The alleged passenger was, in fact, the guitar strapped to his back.

Souvik took to X to point out the rather obvious flaw in the machine’s logic.

“I was riding my wife's two-wheeler alone with my guitar slung on my back in Bangalore,” he wrote, tagging Bengaluru Traffic Police and asking them to revoke the challan.

The evidence attached to the notice made the whole thing even funnier. The photograph clearly showed Souvik wearing a helmet, while his guitar sat neatly behind him. There was no second person on the bike, unless the AI had developed a very creative definition of “pillion”.

See the post:

Dutta also shared the challan, which had been sent to his wife’s account.

Bengaluru Traffic Police responded to the post and asked Dutta to get the fine reversed.

That could have been the end of the story. But the internet, naturally, had other plans.

The post soon reached Reddit, where users had a field day with the AI’s rather enthusiastic interpretation of the photograph. Some joked about “Guitar lives matter”, while others took playful digs at the supposed intelligence behind the camera.

And honestly, the guitar had quite the case in its favour. It had no hands to hold a helmet, no head to wear one and, as far as anyone knows, no intention of riding pillion.

The episode left Bengaluru with yet another traffic tale, except this time the accused was not a reckless rider, but a six-stringed instrument.

AI may have its hawk eyes trained on Bengaluru’s roads. Perhaps someone should now teach it to recognise a guitar when it sees one.