Two ambulance-related crashes in less than a week have forced Marion County Fire Rescue officials to issue a reminder about Florida's Move Over law.

A Marion County Fire Rescue ambulance was taking a patient to the hospital last Friday in Ocala when a van slammed into it at the intersection of Pine Avenue and 10th Street, sending the ambulance hurdling on its side toward a gas station. The paramedic in the back who was treating a patient was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

Three days later, a car crashed into a Marion County Fire Rescue ambulance along State Road 200. There was a patient inside the ambulance at the time of the crash.

The crashed brought back vivid memories for Brent Murray, a Marion County firefighter and paramedic.

Murray was already in the back of one ambulance that was T-boned by a horse trailer when he was nearly hit again a few weeks later while rushing a critically injured crash victim to Shands Hospital, in Gainesville.

"A car pulled in front of us, and the person who was driving — my partner — had to swerve to avoid missing him," Murray said, adding that the ambulance went up on two wheels at one point during the incident.

Murray thought he was lucky to avoid a second crash, but less than an hour later on the way back from the call, a driver slammed into the ambulance.

"As a result of being T-boned, we rolled and, almost in a NASCAR-type fashion, starting rolling faster and faster," Murray said.

Murray was seating a seatbelt in the front seat and escaped without major injuries, but his partner in the back underwent surgery because of the crash.

"The welding actually failed, and the stretcher came loose along with all the other equipment," Murray said.

Since those crashes, Murray has switched over to driving fire engines. Despite being larger and louder, though, Murray said he still sees people who don't obey Florida's Move Over law. He said he even sees other motorists speed up to get ahead of him when he's out on calls.

"It's a shame that it does happen, but it really does remind us that every time we go out there, we really are putting our lives on the line just to respond to a call," Murray said.

Here's what you need to know about Florida's Move Over law:

  • If you see an emergency vehicle on the side of a multilane road, move over one lane away from the vehicle and slow down to 20 mph less than the posted speed limit
  • If you see or hear an emergency vehicle coming up behind you, pull to the right
  • Yield to emergency vehicles as you approach an intersection