Highway M-1 from Blantyre to Lilongwe is long, straight and by African standards a good, well-marked tarmac road. Only south of the mountainous area near Dedza does the road climb into the mountains and present the traveler with some sharp, snake like curves and turns as it crosses the mountain range south and west of Lake Malawi. As with almost all of the paved roads in the country (which are very few) the traveler takes his life into his hands each time a trip begins. But of all of the dangerous parts of the highway system there is one spot that is worse by far than any of the rest. No, it is not on a hairpin curve. No, it is not at a major intersection or in a congested trading center. It is on a straight stretch of road a few kilometers north of Dedza where a driver can see clearly for a long distance ahead. Granted the road at this spot is in a slight grade, but for the driver of any vehicle this should cause no problem or concern. Yet, at a particular spot on this stretch of highway north of Dedza there have been more accidents and fatalities than on any other stretch of road in the country. It is so serious that on both sides of the road the highway department has installed a number of rumble strips to warn and slow the traffic before it reaches the spot.
And there seems to be nothing in the location and geography to indicate why. Nothing except if you want to listen to the local residents who seem to have no doubt as to the cause of all of the accidents. For them the answer is plain, simple and conclusive. It is the work of the spirits and their explanation is this:
When the Banda Administration constructed highway M-1 in order to offer a means by which a traveler can easily reach all three regions of the country this stretch of road was carelessly laid down over a cemetery. And now, so the story goes, the highway traffic running over the resting place of the ancestors puts them in continual torment. In order to persuade the government to move the road the spirits continue to cause the highway accidents.