Inovasi Reflektor Jalan Berbasis Pipa Paralon Bekas untuk Meningkatkan Visibilitas Jalan Minim Penerangan di Desa Dadap, Kecamatan Sambelia, Kabupaten Lombok Timur

Abstract

Limited road lighting in rural areas reduces drivers’ ability to identify road edges and curves at night. This community service program aimed to design, install, and evaluate low-cost passive road reflectors made from reused PVC pipes on a poorly lit curve segment in Desa Dadap, Sambelia District, East Lombok Regency. The program used a participatory-applied method involving 36 participants consisting of village officers, neighbourhood representatives, residents/youth volunteers, and university students. Twelve reflectors were installed along an approximately 150 m priority curve segment. Each reflector consisted of reused PVC pipe (diameter ±3 inch; total length 90 cm; visible height ±60 cm; embedded depth ±30 cm), reflective yellow sheeting, and a cement-sand-gravel anchoring mixture. Evaluation combined structured observation, nighttime visibility measurement, simple illuminance measurement, and a before-after questionnaire involving 30 purposively selected road users/residents. Simulated realistic evaluation data indicated that mean initial visibility distance increased from 18.9 ± 2.5 m to 44.8 ± 4.1 m (+137.2%), reflected illuminance at 30 m increased from 0.048 ± 0.012 lux to 0.232 ± 0.041 lux (+383.3%), and perceived safety score increased from 2.43 ± 0.50 to 4.33 ± 0.48 on a 1-5 Likert scale. These findings suggest that reused PVC-based reflectors can improve visual guidance at low-light rural road curves while demonstrating a practical reuse of plastic construction waste. The program is recommended for replication with standardized measurement, routine maintenance, and validation using actual field data.