Forum Discussion

Wm_Elliot's avatar
Wm_Elliot
Explorer
Mar 11, 2020

Guys waving red flags from overpasses???

This is not the first time I've seen it... Between Puebla and Cordoba on the toll roll some overpasses in rural areas have guys watching the traffic and waving red flags... What's it about?
  • Naio's avatar
    Naio
    Explorer II
    Thanks for posting the answer! I'm not in Mexico, but I was curious.
  • checked it out again today on our drive north. the overpasses are only barely 1 lane wide and the flagman is directing cross traffic. even people in the "boonies" use the roads
  • that's possible but these overpasses are way out in the boonies, all the traffic is down below with not very much overhead.
  • I think it has nothing to do with the highway, but with the traffic on the very narrow overpass.
  • I don't know why but this brought up an old memory.

    Driving north on (IIRC) I-75, some where south of Ohio, we pass a sign that says "Drug Inspection Checkpoint". I think, "Great, I hope they don't want to take all of my family's belongings out of the car !" We come around a corner and the only thing I see up ahead is a bridge. There is a wide, treed median. A couple of hundred yards before the bridge, there is a maintenance cross-over between north and south bound lanes. As I pass under the bridge, I notice the "smokey" with binoculars on the bridge and a couple of patrol cars on the south bound side.

    What a sneaky trick ! Anyone with drugs would try to take the illegal cross over and be stopped. They would at least get a traffic violation and possibly a lot more !!

    We just sailed on by.
  • They failed. Wasted their time since you have no idea what the red flag means.