WORCESTER – The image of a blinking red light on the back of her uncle’s fallen bicycle will be one that sticks with Brianna Arnold for years to come.

Ms. Arnold, 21, of Charlton, testified about the death of her uncle, William Phoenix of Shrewsbury, at the Statehouse on Wednesday. Mr. Phoenix, 54, died seven days earlier after he was struck by a car as he rode his bike on Belmont Street near Rebecca Avenue. Ms. Arnold spoke about how the safety light on the back of his bike continued to blink as EMTs lifted her uncle to take him to the hospital.

Mr. Phoenix’s death was the first bicycling fatality in Worcester in more than three years. In July 2012, Carl Rasmussen, 48, was hit by a car and killed while biking on Park Avenue. No charges were lodged in that case. Last month’s accident remains under investigation.

Ms. Arnold read a tearful statement before the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation, advocating for proposed legislation to strengthen pedestrian and cyclist safety. Legislators are considering multiple bills; the proposed measures include ticketing those who park in bike lanes, requiring drivers to give cyclists a three-foot buffer, and requiring trucks to have side guards so cyclists can’t be swept under.

“I feel it would be my uncle’s wish to never again see a bike on the side of the road, abandoned, while its owner is taken away in an ambulance,” Ms. Arnold said.

Barbara Jacobson, program director for the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, also known as MassBike, said the statewide advocacy group has an “ultimate goal” of zero fatalities and injuries on Massachusetts roads. The group supports several of the proposals up for review by the Transportation Committee. Ms. Jacobson said she was contacted by Mr. Phoenix's family after his death Dec. 30.

“Whenever these things happen, I just always ask why,” Ms. Jacobson said. “It’s just hard, because these laws that we talk about wanting to have in place could potentially prevent things like this from happening.”

She pointed to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that shows traffic fatalities declined in the U.S. from approximately 42,800 in 2004 to 32,700 in 2013. But as a portion of those numbers, cyclist fatalities have steadily increased; from 2004 to 2013, the percentage of fatal traffic crashes that involved cyclists rose from 1.7 percent to 2.3 percent. There were 743 bicycle fatalities across the country in 2013.

Ms. Jacobson said she believes some motorists forget lives are on the line in their haste to drive quickly. "We're all people," she said.

Jerry Powers of WalkBike Worcester went out this week to record video from a driver’s perspective on the stretch of Belmont Street where Mr. Phoenix was struck. Mr. Powers posted the video to the group's Facebook page for analysis.

“The travel lane (on a four-lane road) is right up against the curb, and there’s no shoulder," he said. “Combine that with the fact that there’s very little in the way of street lighting, and that this happened in the evening.”

Mr. Powers said his group is working on finding ways to make roads better for cyclists and pedestrians, including troublesome roads like Belmont Street. In April, a mother with a stroller and two children were struck while walking in the crosswalk near the Belmont Street Community School. The city has worked since then to move the crosswalk closer to the building, so it isn't be hidden by the crest of the hill.

Mr. Powers said a new city committee formed last month to explore pedestrian and bike safety in Worcester as well.

“All you can hope for is to look for ways to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. What’s been very frustrating for everybody is if we just shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Accidents happen,’" he said. Mr. Phoenix "had the light blinking. He was on the right side of the road. He was doing not only what he’s legally entitled to, but it was really the only option he had.”

Ms. Arnold, a political science student at Stonehill College, urged legislators to not to let her uncle’s death "be in vain." Mr. Phoenix’s family said the man biked every day of the year and loved “the art” of his hobby.

“We will never know if these safety laws could have saved my uncle. We cannot go back in time,” Ms. Arnold said. “If we have the power to save another life, we should do everything in our power to do so.”