Police have charged a taxi driver who allegedly accelerated when two men tried to skip a fare by jumping out of his moving cab.

The two men bailed out of the cab in High Street, Northcote, shortly after 1am on Monday.

One landed safely but the other fell onto the road, suffering life-threatening head injuries. He was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The driver, a 35-year-old man from Footscray, was arrested after handing himself in to police at Preston later on Monday morning.

The driver has been charged with negligently causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury, failing to stop and failing to render assistance.