There’s been an increase in the number of calls to ICBC to report crashes with the snow and ice across the province.

Road Safety Coordinator Ingrid Brakop says call volumes between Jan. 10 and 14 in the Southern Interior are up 51 per cent compared to the week prior, while province wide calls were up 12 per cent.

“Mother nature, she’s mad. We are currently paying for it,” she said, on NL Newsday.

Brakop says between Jan. 10 and 14, there were 3,908 calls across B.C., with 140 in the Southern Interior. That’s compared to Jan. 3 and 7 where there were 3,478 calls across the province, and 93 in the Southern Interior.

“I’m assuming that those will be material damage claims. They’ve gone up significantly in the last week. Whether or not they follow through with that claim – some people decide to pay it out for themselves, and that is their decision, but we are taking a lot of claims right now.”

A recommendation from Brakop with the wintry weather we’re seeing – stay home if you don’t need to drive. That’s because she expects those numbers to climb significantly in the days and weeks ahead.

“If you have the opportunity to stay home or work remotely or walk to work, maybe do that. Unfortunately, in the Lower Mainland, people can’t really take buses now,” she added. “We certainly have that option to take the bus in Kamloops.”

While the worst conditions have been in the Lower Mainland, Brakop says the Southern Interior has seen its fair share of poor weather.

“Like the Fraser Canyon, the Coquihalla, Allison Pass, they have been just hammered with severe winter conditions, that is also the Southern Interior,” she noted. “In the municipality of Kamloops, not extreme, but certainly winter roads in intersections have been quite slick.”

She says if people have to drive, to ensure that your vehicles have a good set of winter tires, working lights, and that it is clear of snow. Drivers are also being urged to drive according to the conditions as things could change in a instant.