Despite being a German word, schadenfreude has become a staple of the English lexicon, right up there with other non-English words, like déjà vu and blasé. It means “to take pleasure in other people’s misfortune” and it’s the only way to describe what’s happening with the YouTube channel The Turn, which is just a compilation of people slowly sliding off the road on one specific turn, in an undisclosed location somewhere in America. Drivers can’t stop crashing, and we all can’t seem to stop watching.
At first glance, this situation might remind you of the internet-famous 11-foot-8 bridge, which tore the tops of countless trucks like a high-speed can opener. However, that bridge was visibly quite low and had obvious signage to tell drivers exactly how low it was. This corner is seemingly normal, without any visible reasons to cause so many crashes, and yet it keeps taking drivers by surprise.
In the videos, filmed from a fixed camera angle over countless days, there are many, many instances of drivers leaving the road, typically understeering into the trees, taking out signs along the way. Weather is irrelevant, too, as drivers crashed on dry pavement, in the rain, in the snow, during the day, and at night. There doesn’t seem to be any specific rhyme or reason for why drivers crash so often, as the majority of them are pretty low-speed incidents. Some commenters have speculated that there’s a camber change midway through the corner, which can throw drivers off. However, it seems more likely that drivers don’t fully grasp the sharp angle of the turn until it’s too late.
Cars of all kinds crash, and cars of all kinds make it through perfectly fine. There are supercars, front-wheel-drive Hondas, and even motorcycles seen in the video taking the turn without any drama, while all-wheel-drive SUVs and lifted trucks struggle. So it seems we can chalk this one up more to user error than to a fault with the road.
It’s unclear where exactly this road is, as the creator of the YouTube channel wants to keep it anonymous. However, even with its unknown location, viewers can’t seem to get enough. The channel was originally made for skydiving videos, but wasn’t getting many views according to the individual behind it. Then one day, they posted a video of a Tesla crashing that supposedly went viral, so they switched to documenting mishaps at The Turn.
