Two Nebraska men were spotted riding a motorized couch down a side road early afternoon on Saturday, September 24, 2022. The incident, which was witnessed and recorded by local Lincoln weatherman Rusty Dawkins, was uploaded to social media, garnering thousands of views and several responses from other city residents also claiming to have seen the vehicle.

Nebraska law is understandably sparse concerning where drivable couches fall under law, as there is no specific official legislature on whether a couch is considered a vehicle at all, legal to drive or otherwise. However, motor vehicles are classified under The Official Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles as any vehicle propelled by power other than muscular power, and theoretically, as long as all necessary vehicle safety requirements and guidelines are met, including proper equipment and lights, custom made vehicles like these can indeed be considered legal.

“If it met all the conditions to be street-legal, then yes [it is],” an anonymous poster wrote, discussing the legality of drivable couches. “People drive all sorts of custom vehicles that are street-legal.”

In fact, custom-made couch-based vehicles are nothing new. This incident, despite being the only one so far in Nebraska, is not the only recorded instance of a couch being driven in the US. There have been several news articles and reports over the years of different couch drivers across the country, including as recently as May of this year, when a man in Tacoma, Washington gained fame as “Tacoma Couch Guy” due to his electric-powered motorized couch.

“I was trying to figure out what I could use [extra] batteries for,” Kass Hodorowski, “Tacoma Couch Guy”, said. “Then I saw a listing online for a free mobility scooter.”

It’s clear that the trend of motorized couches has emerged from people with enough drive and creativity to make the best of the unusual. And, in most examples of custom vehicles of this variety, police and law enforcement don’t have much of a problem with them being on the road, so long as they meet legal driving requirements. And hopefully this trend will continue – both of creativity, road safety and legal approval – with Lincoln’s newfound couchway motorists.