A huge jump in crashes yesterday in Kamloops and the Southern Interior.

ICBC says 191 crash calls came in across the region, which is 44 per cent more than the number of calls that came in seven days earlier (131).

Road safety coordinator Ingrid Brakop says the jump is attributed to the winter snowstorm that pushed through the region.

“That’s just in the Southern Interior. So that’s a great many collision calls, that’s a lot of collisions that could’ve very well been prevented. We’re just encouraging drivers to make good decisions for themselves to mitigate these collisions from occurring,” Brakop says.

“If it’s like snowy, dark, slushy icy, if you suspect that the roads are less than ideal, slow your speeds down. And make sure that your vehicle is prepared for winter driving.”

Brakop says in our region, those crash calls are for incidents on mountain highways more often than not.

Crashes on yesterday on area mountain highways led to closures of the Coquihalla south of Merritt and two closures of the Trans-Canada near Revelstoke.