Wrong-way traffic

[kphoger]

I know we've discussed situations where traffic briefly drives on the wrong side of the road by design.  Airport or mall entrances etc.  But I found a situation where traffic on a major two-lane highway is expected to switch sides of the road several times in succession.

For reference, this is Mexican federal highway 150 on a series of steep switchbacks.  It appears the intent is to have downhill traffic on the inside of every hairpin turn.  Only pavement arrows (and signs telling you to obey the arrows) advise drivers to keep switching sides; there are no physical barriers or any other concessions made to force drivers into the correct (incorrect?) lane.

This seems like a recipe for disaster.  OTOH, perhaps not doing it this way was a recipe for disaster.

Sign:  Obedezca señal de piso = Obey pavement marking
Crazy arrows.  Calling it confusing would be an understatement.
Arrows telling you to switch back over again.
Two sets in quick succession.  Having fun yet?
A driver switching back over to the right lane, as indicated

Is there anything else like this?  Anywhere?

[MNHighwayMan]

It is the custom on the Yungas Road in Bolivia, to keep downhill traffic moving more slowly on the very narrow (barely) gravel roadway.

Why that'd be necessary on a two-lane paved roadway is lost on me, though.

[kphoger]

Why that'd be necessary on a two-lane paved roadway is lost on me, though.

In a country where double semi trailers are often both 48 feet long, I could see trucks encroaching on the inner lane anyway.

[MNHighwayMan]

Right, but wouldn't moving them to the inside lane make the problem even worse? Instead of scraping a car, let's scrape the side of a rock ledge instead! Seems to me that it should instead be a length restriction rather than lane-switching silliness.