Texto da Questão:
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"I’m not a naturally wrathful person. I don’t like to (and usually don’t) lose my temper. The
exception is when drivers ignore pedestrian right of way. I will, whether I’m a few steps or a few miles
into my walk, admonish them — loudly and none too gently. (They, of course, cannot hear me inside
their cars.)
It’s hard to shake the impression that New York City’s drivers have become more aggressive.
They run reds, viciously honk and yell at pedestrians who clearly have the right of way and generally
endanger the lives of those on foot.
From 2009 to 2022, an average of 136 pedestrians were killed each year by traffic in the city.
The numbers have gone down slightly — to 99 in 2023 — but cyclist deaths have climbed, though they
remain a small fraction of pedestrian deaths. (The city’s decision to give pedestrians a head start at
many intersections, where walk signals turn white before streetlights go green, may be helping.)
In the United States generally, walking has become far more dangerous. The number of
pedestrian fatalities nationally has climbed more than 80 percent in the past 15 years, largely because
of increasingly hazardous automotive design. Some police departments effectively no longer punish
drivers for any traffic infractions. San Francisco’s police officers “have almost entirely abandoned
enforcement of traffic laws,” The Times’s Heather Knight reported.
All of this calls not just for policy changes such as automobile regulation, improved policing
and better urban planning but also for a more assertive pedestrian culture. Aggressive drivers have
exacerbated this problem; aggressive pedestrians can help solve it."
Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/27/opinion/thepoint#pedestrian-safetyassertiveness
According to the text, which factor has significantly contributed to the rise in pedestrian fatalities over
the past 15 years in the United States?
