A female patient was fighting for her life last night after jumping from a moving ambulance following another week of carnage on the county's roads.

A police car on an emergency call was also written off and two officers hurt in another incident during the weekend.

They were believed to have suffered minor injuries but the woman who leapt from an ambulance as it travelled west on the A264 towards Faygate roundabout, near Horsham, was in a serious condition in hospital.

A paramedic tried to stop her but she broke free and tumbled into the road at 3.15am yesterday.

It is understood Surrey Ambulance Service was transporting the patient from East Surrey Hospital to Horsham Hospital, which provides mental health and social care facilities.

The patient was being treated at East Surrey Hospital last night as a police investigation got under way into the events leading up to the incident.

Surrey Ambulance Service chief executive, Paul Grant, said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the patient.

"The staff involved are receiving support in line with our policies for serious incidents."

The service would not comment on the mental state of the patient or what speed the ambulance was travelling.

Part of the A264 was sealed off and diversions set up as crash investigators conducted inquiries.

Sussex Ambulance Service was called to take the patient back to hospital in Redhill. A spokeswoman said: "We treated it as we would any normal 999 call."

The ambulance incident was one in a series of road accidents in Sussex at the weekend.

Yesterday, a police car was written off in a collision with a Nissan 4x4 at noon at the Thomas a Beckett traffic lights, Worthing. Sergeant Mark Geer, of Brighton and Hove road policing department, said the two male officers were injured as they were answering an emergency call of a "crime in progress".

The pair were freed from the wreckage and taken to Worthing Hospital with what were believed to be minor injuries.

The male and female in the Nissan were shaken by the crash but were able to walk home.

On Friday night, a man died after his blue Saab car crashed and burst into flames as he travelled north on the B2192 at Halland, near Lewes, at 9.38pm.

A day earlier, a 66-year-old man died when his silver Nissan Almera collided with a taxi on the eastbound A27 at Fontwell.

The victim, from Havant, Hants, was taken to St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, where he died from his injuries.

The two fatal crashes took this year's death toll to 108, which equals last year's total. This compares with 92 in 1998.

There are now a record 66 speed cameras in the county and while they have reduced fatalities and accidents at accident blackspots, the overall death toll continues to rise.

Sussex Police appealed for witnesses to any of the crashes to contact them on 0845 6070 999.