About Us
About Us
RESPONSIBLE
Driving Begins with YOU...
- Rested, ready, and reliable
- Engages on communicating with other drivers
- Smooth and steady in traffic
- Predicts actions of others
- Obeys all traffic laws
- Not impaired by alcohol or other drugs
- Sure to drive defensively
- Insured at least State's minimum
- Better to be prepared than surprised
- Looks to help others
- Enthusiastic about safety
Lynn Fuchs of Valley Stream, New York and Glens Falls, New York has always credited herself with having a driving passion-literally. For over 43 years, she has been the founder and president of A Woman's Way® Driving School, teaching others the "Fuchs' Formula"
of defensive driving. Her copyrighted methods teach drivers to become "wheel watchers"
and along with her 6 point check have been incorporated into the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Driver's Manual.
At A Woman's Way® Driving School, in addition to teaching the rules of the road, Ms. Fuchs specializes in treating driving phobias. She works personally on a one-to-one basis with both men and women, to successfully dissipate their anxiety and worries in relation to driving.
As part of her "education is power" philosophy, Ms. Fuchs also offers workshops on how a car "works" and what to ask and look for before bringing a car in to the repair shop.
About Ms. Fuchs
Ms. Fuchs, a Traffic Safety and Driving Education Specialist, was appointed the first woman president of The Driving School Association of New York State which oversees 650 driving schools statewide. As president, she helped senators concerning the legislative process and worked one-on-one teaching driving school owners and teachers. While serving on the Department of Motor Vehicle's Advisory Board for many years, Ms. Fuchs helped rewrite new curriculum for the NY State Department of Motor Vehicle's Driving School Instructor 30 Hour Preparation Course. As early as 1988, Ms. Fuchs was named Business Woman of the Year by the American Business Women's Association. Last year, she was selected by the American Woman's Economic Development Corp. (AWED) as guest speaker in their two day convention in New York, attended by over 5,000 women. In addition, Ms. Fuchs worked with the Small Business Administration WNET (Women's Network for Entrepreneurial Training) as a mentor to other women starting out or expanding their businesses.
In 1997, Lynn was selected to serve for 3 years on a special statewide committee authorized by Governor Pataki. Here alongside doctors from Long Island Jewish Hospital and the New York State Office for the Aging, a comprehensive and informative handbook for older drivers, their friends, and their families was published. To help serve this population, Lynn has formulated the Elder Driver Evaluation Program (E.D.E.P.). In addition, Ms. Fuchs works with the cognitive and physical limitations of all drivers. As well, she also served on the team at the Rusk Institute at the NYU Medical Center in New York City as their Driver Rehabilitation Specialist.
Congratulations to Lynn Fuchs who is the professional expert in Patty Chang Ankers newly published book "Some Nerve, Lessons learned while becoming brave!" It made Oprahs Fall Reading Recommend List for 2013!
Congratulations to Lynn Fuchs & Myra Halpern who are the professional experts in Real Simple Magazine’s article “How I Finally Conquered My Fear of Driving” Marjoie Ingalls’s story in facing a phobia, one writer gets a refresher course in the Twist and Turns of Life, with her teacher Myra Halpern – The wonderfully inspirational article appeared on newsstands in April 2016 Issue
With her love of people and her mission to help all who lack the confidence to achieve, her certification in counseling from St. Joseph's College, makes her a very special role model to help guide and inspire her students and to help show them the way!
"My goal is to reach out and help others"
Lynn Fuchs
Long Beach
HERALD
Teacher: My way gets you on the highway
By Melissa Galin
August 17-23, 1995
Lynn Fuchs just keeps on rolling along. Among her recent accomplishments, Ms. Fuchs's commitment to helping others was recognized with her recent selection by the Small Business Administration as a top American Woman Business advocate.
Ms. Fuchs, a Long Beach resident who grew up in Valley Stream, began efforts to help others after an auto accident in 1976. "I thought there had to be a way to avoid that accident," she says. She developed the "Fuchs's Formula" for driving and in 1981, after training as a driving teacher, Ms. Fuchs opened "A Woman's Way® Driving School" in Valley Stream.
"I have always wanted to help people help themselves," she says. As the name implies, Ms. Fuchs is committed to teaching students her way - with confidence and ease. Although she teaches people between the ages of 16 to 85, most of her students are older adults who have put off learning to drive. Through personalized training, once timid drivers become comfortable behind the wheel and learn to enjoy driving.
"My students come in like a bud and leave like a flower," she says. What I am doing is gratifying. It changes people's lives. The ability to drive gives women the freedom to pick jobs they enjoy. The sense of control that comes from being able to go anywhere and insure a safe return, improves people's outlooks."
She relies on a college background in psychology in her work. Through counseling, she is able to help students deal with other problems that are indirectly affecting their driving. "I fix what has to be fixed," she says. "I wanted to be a psychiatrist and I love to drive. I think I have combined the two." She also teaches in Spanish and uses symbols to make her school accessible to minorities.
Her commitment to helping others goes beyond her work at her driving school. As a mentor in the Small Business Administration WNET Program, she volunteered her time to help a woman who owns a small chocolate business. "It is a wonderful program. I continued to do it on my own after the program because I wanted to help." Two years later, the woman's business has branched out.
Her selection as Woman in Business Advocate is just one of many honors she has received through her work. She was selected as Woman of the Year by Sunrise East Chapter of the Small Business Administration and was asked to sit on the Advisory Board of the Department of Motor Vehicles. She was guest speaker at the 14th Annual National Conference for Women and became the first female president of The Driving School Association of New York State.
Her newest venture is "Teacher In My Pocket." The series, which includes the Department of Motor Vehicles handbook, along with music, traffic sounds, and sample tests with answers, offers a new study method for people preparing to take the written driving test or refreshing their knowledge. The idea for the series came from a student in her Valley Stream office. At the end of a tutoring session, "She told me she would like to take me home in her pocket to study," Ms. Fuchs says.
Lynn Fuchs Has Been The Subject
Of Many Newspapers And Magazine Articles And Received Much Recognition
Valley Stream Herald
Neighbors
Defensive Driving
It's all in the eyes
May 2, 1991
Defensive driving formulas as taught by Lynn Fuchs of Valley Stream are being incorporated into the New York State Safety Program by an evaluator who observed the lesson taught by Ms. Fuchs and was impressed by it. "I was supposed to be teaching a driver improvement class from some pre-printed materials that had been given to me," says the licensed driving instructor, "when I thought that the public needs to know my material."
She substituted her "Fuchs Formula", as she calls it, on wheel position and wheel rotation. "I was so nervous anyway, standing in front of all those new faces, I figured, what could I lose? "I was a hit! Not only did I have every ear in the classroom, but my evaluator said he was so intrigued that he is now going to incorporate it in all of his insurance and point reduction classes.
Lynn Fuchs's driving school, A Woman's Way®, has been in business in Valley Stream for ten years. She says she has been using the techniques since she started as a driving instructor 13 years ago. Her theories came about after she was the victim of a car accident in 1976 where someone ran through their red light. The accident, from which she has now completely recovered, left her with severe nerve damage and kept her bedridden and in the care of nurses. It was a difficult time for the young housewife and mother.
But it gave her plenty of time to think. Reliving the accident over and over, she determined that visual cues will indicate what the other driver is doing. "It's more than eye contact," she says. "Most of us look at the other driver's eyes." But by checking the wheel position and the wheel's rotation, she says, you can predict what the driver will do next. "When in doubt, always pad your brake and toot your horn to get their eye," she says, "but remember that eye contact is not enough. React by what their wheels are telling you."
Ms. Fuchs suggests that even bicyclists, walkers, and joggers can train themselves to watch wheel movements. "It's all in the eyes," she says.
A Woman's Way® Driving School
Don’t STOP…Hit the gas and go
Driving School Founder preaching safety, freedom for all on the open road
By Amanda Bensen
Glen Falls: Lynn Fuchs talks about cars the way evangelists talk about God. Learning to drive, she declares, can change your life. It expands your social network, your shopping options, and even your job prospects.
Who wouldn’t want to get behind the Wheel?
Some people, however, are afraid to converts from passengers to drivers. They might have grown in a city where a subway pass was as good as gasoline, or grown used to relying on a spouse who hogged the steering wheel. Perhaps they’re jittery from a car crash.
Fear not, says Fuchs, owner or A women’s Way Driving School. She promises to teach them to drive her way – “a women’s way” (even if they’re men) - by combining traditional instruction with phobia counseling.
“Self Confidence if the biggest issue for many of my students,” Fuchs said. “They want to learn so badly, but they don’t think they can handle it.”
She Teaches them to take things one step at a time, training their eyes before their hands and feet.
Fuchs, 53, sports a Long Island accent, and enormous smile, and the aura of a friendly aunt. The answering machine at her driving school promises caller that, “We really care about you here at our school.”
She compares her relationship with students to a doctor’s with her patients, and advertises on her web site as “the specialist who makes house calls.”
For her, Driver’s education is a calling.
She has always loved driving, Fuchs said, and owns seven cars, including an antique Volvo that she uses for lessons.
She started down the driving school career path in her mid-20s, when she was involved in a car crash that started her thinking about defensive driving. She took a job as an instructor at a driving school in 1978, and discovered a passion for individualized teaching that she felt “wasn’t appreciated there.”
In 1981 she founded A Woman’s Way in her hometown of Valley Stream, on Long Island. She opened the second location in Glens Falls about five years ago.
One of her goals, she said, is to help students avoid accidents by learning to think ahead. Drivers should “look early and deep” into side streets when approaching an intersection, she said, and watch the tires of oncoming vehicles for clues about their speed and direction. Pedestrians and bikers should, she said be “wheel watchers,” too.
“People don’t always realize that 3,000 pounds takes a lot of timer to stop, so they may not be braking in time to stop at a light.” Fuchs said. “If you notice that their wheels aren’t rotating more slowly as they approach the intersection, be careful.”
She has given this technique a name – The Fuchs’ Formula – which she has copyrighted. The formula is detailed, with credit given to Fuchs, in chapter 8 – Defensive Driving – of the New York driver’s manual.
In 2003, Fuchs received a certificate in counseling from St. Joseph’s College, although not all her students need phobia counseling.
She also conducts prelicensing classes and elder driver evaluations for the Motor vehicles Department, and teaches basic automobile safety.
Her students range from 16 to 85, and she estimated she’s taught about 25,000 of them. It’s a number she hopes will keep accelerating.
“I’m truly proud of what I do.” She said.
She would like eventually to establish a foundation for people who can’t afford to pay for a car or driving lessons.
“Driving changes your life, and if i can share that with someone else, I’ve done a good job.”
Driven To Learn
Why The Oldest New Drivers Finally Get Going
Steering Clear of the Pitfalls
Lynn Fuchs, a driving instructor of 28 years, and owner of A Women’s Way Driving School in Valley Stream, specializes in teaching older drivers and people with driving phobias. Here are her seven tips for learning how to drive:
1. Only share your new endeavor with people who support your ideas and goals, not negative friend and family. (You know who they are)
2. Be realistic about the process and be patient. Accept the driver’s education will take time.
3. Do not compare yourself to anyone else. Each person Learns at his or her own pace. We were not born knowing how to drive-it is a skill that must be learned.
4. Know that because we are older, we are more focused, realistic, and responsible about becoming safe drivers.
5. Reflect on past achievements to boost your confidence and help you stay focused in attaining your new goal
6. If you are unable to afford professional driving instruction choose a mentor who, when behind the wheel, is respectful, courteous to others, rational and calm in decision making, and respectful of laws and rules. This is a good candidate to emulate
7. Anger can serve as a wonderful motivation. To all those who say you’ll never do it, tell yourself and them “Not only am I going to do it, but I am going to do it well”
-Arlene Gross-