A cabbie has been fatally crushed between two cars after a minor accident and an elderly woman has died after being hit by a car on Melbourne’s roads.

Police say the man’s taxi was rear-ended at the intersection of the Nepean Highway and Hawthorn Road at Brighton East around 1am on Sunday.

Minutes later he was standing behind the second car when he was struck by a third car, a Mitsubishi Colt.

The man, in his 60s, was crushed between the two vehicles and died at the scene.

The driver of the third car ran off, police said.

Police Superintendent Neville Taylor said it was a minor collision that became one of three serious crashes overnight.

He called for witnesses to the Brighton incident, as well as a three-car smash in Camberwell about 2am and the death of a 74-year-old woman who was hit while crossing a Glen Waverley road on Saturday night.

The Camberwell crash left a 23-year-old woman with life-threatening injuries and her passenger with serious injuries. A second driver was breath tested and found to be over the limit, police said.

Superintendent Taylor said it appeared alcohol, distraction and other impaired driving may have played a part in the crashes.

“Here we are again on a Sunday, cleaning up the mess, cleaning up the carnage,” he told reporters.

Victoria’s road toll stands at 166 deaths, 10 more than this time last year, and drivers had to be reminded that high-risk behaviour cost lives, he said.