It's not a one way street, and my husband has been road riding for many years (way more than me) so I don't know what his malfunction was. It is pretty confusing though, and I've never seen it addressed in any of the "rules of the road" that I have read.

Funny thing is that when I was younger and didn't really know any better, I always rode against traffic because I felt it was safer: I wanted to be able to see what was coming at me so I could avoid it. Now I know better (and use a mirror) and it just feels so wrong to ride against traffic.