Like many wild animals, coyotes become habituated to human presence, and that is when wild animals are at their most dangerous. This more because of human behavior than theirs....Because they are not charging at them and attacking every living being in sight, many people view them as domesticated. They will feed them, which prompts the animal to associate people with food, and they will get way too close to the animal. An animal in the wilderness, without frequent exposure to humans, has no idea what to expect from an encounter with people and will therefore generally avoid contact unless they are cornered or sense that their offspring are in danger. Risk aversion is part of most animals' survival instinct.
In my experience, Denise is correct that coyotes will generally chose flight over fight when confronting an adult person, who is obviously larger than they are, even when they are habituated to us. However, anyone with a dog knows that they view children differently from adults, and children and pets ARE in danger when a coyote or any predator is around. Therefore, they cannot be let alone in neighborhoods.
It is true that we are encroaching upon the habitat of coyotes, bears, and other wild animals, and that this is increasing contact between us and them and also the risk of a catastrophic encounters. Ultimately, though, with human expansion a given, we are bound to place human life over animal life (survival of species) if an emergent decision has to be made in favor of one over the other. There are some things we can do and are doing to mitigate contact between civilization and the wild and limit regrettable consequences of that contact to both humans and animals. Much of what we are doing and could further be done, however, falls in the spectrum of political discussion that I don't think appropriate for these forums.