Driver fined for scratching face after camera thought he was on the phone

In China, it's probably best to keep your hands on the wheel at all times when driving. Photo / Supplied

A motorist in China has been left furious after he was fined by police for scratching his head while driving.

No, that's not illegal in China. At least not yet. But the man was caught on camera scratching the side of his face near his ear. The artificial intelligence on-board the camera concluded that he was holding a phone up to his ear.

Once you see the picture, you can understand why, but there's clearly no phone.

The driver, named Liu, was fined 50 yuan (about $10) and lost points on his license, according to the BBC.

But despite the camera's mistake, the man struggled to successfully protest his innocence and overturn the fine when he called the local police, news.com.au reports.

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Liu shared the photo snapped by the traffic camera and his fine on Chinese social media.

"I often see people online exposed for driving and touching others' legs, but this morning, for touching my face, I was also snapped breaking the rules," he said.

However, according to The Global Times in China, the ticket was eventually overturned. Authorities said the camera system takes a photo when it detects driver movement and clearly misclassified Liu's actions.

China continues to pursue a massive surveillance state where citizens are closely watched. There are more than 170 million surveillance cameras and the country has plans to install a further 400 million by 2020.

The CCTV camera often have controversial technology such as facial recognition and are used to bolster the country's Orwellian social credit system.