Police are blaming "hoon" driving for the deaths of two young men in a crash near Melbourne's city centre.

The pair, aged 19 and 21, were speeding in a yellow Holden Commodore along Lygon Street in Carlton around 2pm (AEST) Friday when the vehicle collided with a parked car near the corner of Palmerston St, police said.

The Commodore rebounded into the back of two parked taxis in which there were a total of five people - three passengers plus the two cabbies.

An eyewitness said the driver of the Commodore and his back seat passenger, who police said were both from north-west Melbourne, died at the scene.

The passenger in the front seat, a youth in his late teens, was taken to The Alfred hospital in a stable condition.

The three taxi passengers suffered minor injuries and were also taken to hospital, along with a female pedestrian who suffered shock after narrowly missing being hit in the crash.

Senior Sergeant Michael Talbot from the Major Collisions Investigation Unit said the Commodore driver had been speeding.

"Two young men have been killed and five others have been taken to hospital with varying degrees of injury that includes a lady who simply happened to be walking along the footpath," Snr Sgt Talbot said.

"This is another example of what you could say (is) hoon behaviour, hoon driving, and young people think they can outdo themselves and the results are tragic."

The female pedestrian helped paramedics treat one of the young men before he died.

"She was quite distressed, she also gave some assistance to treat one of the patients," a paramedic said at the scene.

Snr Sgt Talbot said the pedestrian was "severely traumatised".

Lygon Street is a busy shopping and restaurant strip favoured by drivers cruising the street to show off their vehicles, but Snr Sgt Talbot said it did not necessarily attract "hoons".

"Everywhere is a problem," he said.

"We just can't get it through to young people's heads that they are not invincible, that they will crash and they will die."

A resident in a nearby apartment tower, Jouana Assadi, said she heard a sound "like an explosion" and saw the wreckage outside her 19th floor window.

"The driver, he died straight away and the other passenger in the back, he died," she said.

"Just one, in the front seat, he was taken to hospital," she said.

Earlier Friday afternoon, a 42-year-old woman from Culcairn in southern NSW died when her car crashed into a tree on Brimin Road, Brimin, about 18 kilometres west of Rutherglen in Victoria.

A 10-year-old boy who had been travelling in the car went to a nearby house to raise the alarm, a Victoria Police spokesman said.

The deaths takes Victoria's road toll to 131, compared with 113 at the same time last year.

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THEY JUST DONT GET IT DO THEY THESE flamin mongrelS.

yes they never learn.....

I have no problem with natural evolution and breeding/killing off the stupid, but the poor bystanders just don't deserve getting hurt/injured.

crappy cars driven by hero's must compensate for their inadequate lives

Funny how they made a big deal out of the HOONS But not the 42 Year old Lady?? Why ??Because they make more money out of young drivers ....

So what knee-jerk reaction can we expect from the government as a result of this incident?

Ban news papers would help.. then they wont have anyone complaining.

Just run pointless ACA shows which no one watches past the start music and then switches over to fox or the simpsons...

Mmm tragic,
But what about the innocents...the Tree? just a sadly forgotten bystander.
Ballanced-justice for all? I doubt it

yellow cars will be banned from p platers

I certainly hope so, or at least any P plater who wants to buy a yellow car.

According to research, people who drive yellow cars have below average self esteem and are prone to wild mood swings.

Sounds like an emo, if you ask me.

Considering how teenage emos behave, have the cops considered that this was a "cry for help" hooning?

Now, that's not entirely fair.

You can guarantee the driver is never going to hoon again, thanks to this incident.

Even if the lady hit 100000 people they wouldnt make a big deal out of it .... They make more money out of P Platers dont you people get it...

100000 people?? who mentioned people....furthest thing from my mind atm..
But the Tree!! hows the Tree doing?
It's highly unlikely a 42y.o woman has ever done anything good for this planet....but the Tree, he did nothing but good.

I'm all for the media suckling at the teet of the "cash cow" that so-called teenage hoons have been become labled(by the post above).
Screw em...I mean what good do they do, it's not like they're Tree's or something else of worth.

A bit more to think about- according to an news article I saw in one of the weekend papers it was reported that the the driver of the yellow commodore had a brother who crashed and killed himself a few years earlier on Lygon St aswell

yer was only 100 meter from his brothers fatal accident in 1999, i know of this family an it is a big kick in the balls for all the family memebers, this shouldnt of happend but it did..

my condolences to the family an

RIP ali an moe...

p.s. THE LEAST YOU f*k WITS CAN DO, INSTEED OF HIGHLIGHTING THAT THERE WERE "P" PLATES ON THE CAR IS GIVE YOUR RESPECTS.. KIDS HAVE DIED AND NO 1 CARES, JUST THE FACT THAT SPEED/HOONING MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FACTOR.. YOU CAN TELL WHO ARE THE WANKERS IN THIS FORUM THAT THINK THEY HAVE THE ANSWER TO THESE P PLATE ISSUES, BUT INFACT YOUS DONT.. ALL YOUS NO IS HOW TO JUMP ON THE BAND WAGON AND POINT FINGERS AS ANOTHER ACCIDENT IS PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD SUN.. I SEE HEAPS OF f*kING ACCIDENTS EVERY DAY AS I WORK ALL OVER MELBOURNE, I DONT THINK I HAVE SEEN 1 OF THEM PUBLISHED IN THE PAPER, NOT EVEN THE MESSY 1'S, BUT IF THERE ARE P PLATES IM SURE I WILL BE READING IT THE NEXT DAY IN THE PAPER OR WATCHING IT ON THE NEWS..

Yeah condolences and all....
Got a question for you. Why should this have never happened?? as you say......seems they did all they could to make it happen, not once but twice. Lessons learnt the hard way = 0, Seriously what does the govt have to do to get the message across?

I do feel genuinely sorry for the family....but geez stupid is as stupid does!