Eight people died in three separate crashes in the farming community of Rawsonville, Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa said on Saturday.

The accidents happened between 19:00 and 19:30 on Friday.

At the Rawsonville weigh bridge around 19:00, a vehicle crossed over the white lines and collided head-on with a correctional services vehicle.

Three passengers died - two in the private vehicle and one in the correctional services vehicle.

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Just 15 minutes later, a second crash happened about 800m away from the accident scene as a result of the traffic backlog, said Africa.

A truck and a light motor vehicle were travelling slowly in the left lane when a second articulated truck crashed into them from behind.

"The light motor vehicle was then pushed into the back of the first truck... squashed like a small tin."

All four women in the vehicle were killed. The driver of the second truck was rushed to hospital.

Africa said that a pedestrian died in a third accident involving a single vehicle. He did not have further details.