NEW YORK, NY September 12, 2006 —Bicycle advocates are applauding the city's announcement that it will expand its network of bike lanes.

REPORTER: The city plans to add 200 miles of bike lanes and paths to the five-borough network over the next three years. Noah Budnick of the group Transportation Alternatives says the expansion will turn more New Yorkers into regular cyclists.

BUDNICK: What we’ve also seen is that the more people who bike, the fewer crashes there are on city streets, because drivers become more aware of cyclists and become more accustomed to driving safely around them.

For those motorists who aren’t aware that bicyclists have a right to use the road, city officials are launching a new public information campaign to drive the point home.

The campaign will also tell cyclists to obey traffic laws and use helmets. A new city report finds that 97 percent of all bike riders killed in the city over the past decade were not wearing a helmet.