Major road safety concerns as millions of auto recalls added, pedestrian deaths on the rise

·Producer/Reporter

Fri, Mar 1, 2019, 8:45 PM

Every Friday our Personal Finance team will round up consumer news you need to know ahead of the weekend, on a segment we call “Family First” for YFi PM. Read below for this week’s round-up.

Pedestrian deaths

If you tend to walk anywhere, be on high alert. Pedestrian deaths are at the highest level in decades. In an alarming new report by the Governors Highway Safety Association, the focus is on the sharp increase of pedestrian fatalities in recent years. The report estimates there were more than 6,000 deaths in 2018, up 4% from 2017 -- which would be the largest number of pedestrian deaths since 1990.

Auto recalls

Bad news is not only brewing for pedestrians, but for drivers on the road as well. Subaru announced its potentially largest recall ever -- around two million vehicles -- which includes the Impreza and Forester models due to a fault with the brake light switch, which can lead to ignition problems. This comes on the heels of a rapid expansion by the automaker, and will be the largest number of vehicles the company has recalled, excluding its involvement in the Takata airbags recalls.

Tax refunds on the rise

Average tax refunds are up 19% from last week, making them consistent with last year’s levels, the Treasury Department announced Thursday.

The average refund, at $3,143, is $40 higher this year than at the same point last year, the IRS said, though total refunds are down over 3%, at $125.67 billion. There had been some concern about lower-than-average refunds coming in this year.

Yahoo Finance recently spoke about tax season with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and he pointed out a common misconception taxpayers have.

“It’s just a big lie to lead people to believe that if you get less refund than you got last year, your taxes have gone up,” he said. “No, the common sense approach and the only honest answer is look at the bottom line of what you filed in 2019 with what you filed in 2018 and if it's less than 2019, then you got a tax decrease.”