GARY | The state's deadliest network of railroad crossings claimed a new casualty Monday morning with the death of a Griffith man.

The incident comes in the wake of another year in which Lake County led the state with 21 accidents and six fatalities at railroad crossings, Federal Railroad Administration safety figures show.

While Lake County accounts for about 5.1 percent of the state's railroad crossings, the county produced 17.8 percent of the state's rail-highway accidents and 33.3 percent of the state's fatalities in such accidents in 2008, a Times analysis of federal figures shows.

In the Monday incident, witnesses told Gary and South Shore transit police that Antoine Lungs, 24, of the 1900 block of North Arbogast Street, was northbound on County Line Road at 5:30 a.m. when he drove his black 1993 Chevrolet van around the lowered crossing gates of the South Shore tracks and into the path of westbound Train No. 104.

Lungs, the van's only occupant, was ejected and died of blunt force trauma after the train slammed into the van, the coroner's office said. Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Police Chief Robert Byrd said none of the train's passengers or crew was injured.

Six people have died at the County Line Road crossing since 2007, police said.

Robert Kulat, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said such collisions have declined by more than 70 percent nationwide from a peak in the late 1970s. He attributed the decline to an increase in crossings with safety signals and gates.

But year after year in Lake County, crossing accidents and fatalities continue to outpace the rest of the Hoosier state. And many of the accidents occur when drivers disregard emergency signals and gates, venturing out into the paths of oncoming trains, federal records show.

Operation Lifesaver's Web site says Indiana is among the top five states in the country for highway-rail grade crossing fatalities, and Lake County led the state in collisions and fatalities nine of the past 11 years with an average of 28 accidents and four fatalities annually.

Kulat said the downturn in the economy is reducing train traffic at present, but it is expected to double in the next 20 years. Canadian National's purchase of the 198-mile EJ&E is projected to increase rail traffic three-fold through Lynwood, Dyer, Schererville, Griffith and Gary alone.

"It's only going to get worse," Byrd said. "We are looking to see if enforcement of speeding or seat belt laws are the key issue."

Byrd said state highway department money is needed to install double gates at the County Line Road crossing. A state highway spokesperson couldn't be reached Monday for comment.

Byrd said South Shore and Norfolk and Southern Railroad police have conducted safety blitzes at that crossing, handing out printed safety tips.

"We've written some tickets for violations there, too," he said.