New Delhi: An electronic "eye" developed for the first time by scientists in Japan will allow blind people to cross busy roads in total safety.

Mounted on a pair of glasses, it will be capable of detecting the existence and location of a pedestrian crossing, measure the width of the road and detect the colour of the traffic lights. This research appears in the November 19 issue of the journal 'Measurement Science and Technology', published by the UK's Institute of Physics.

Tadayoshi Shioyama and Mohammad Uddin, from the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan, have developed a system that is able to detect the existence of a pedestrian crossing in front of a blind person using a single camera.

When combined with two other techniques the authors have produced, for measuring the width of the road and the colour of traffic lights, a single camera can now give the blind all the information they need to cross a road in safety, says the report.

The camera would be mounted at eye level, and be connected to a tiny computer. It will relay information using a voice speech system and give vocal commands and information through a small speaker placed near the ear.