SURPRISINGLY, a leading group concerned with the safety of all road users is joining the campaign dramatically led by real ale heroes, CAMRA, to keep community and rural pubs open.

GEM Motoring Assist, previously known as the Guild of EXperienced Motorists, says county pubs and those in small towns and villages provide a vital role in offering a real alternative to soulless and expensive motorway services.

David Williams, chief executive of GEM, said: “For centuries, since the days of religious pilgrims and later the romantic stagecoach, hostelries have offered a welcoming refuge for weary travellers.

“We are now losing that tradition, as public houses close in their hundreds and our choice of stopping places to 'water the horses and take sustenance' is being severely restricted.

“This has a knock-on effect as drivers choose not to take an essential break - which should happen for every two hours on the road - and press for home when tired and losing concentration.

“There was a time when you could drive along a motorway or trunk road and look for a church steeple in the distance and be fairly certain that a welcoming inn would be nestled alongside the place of worship.”

He said pubs were now a lot more than sources of alcohol, as GEM condemned drinking and driving. He explained: “Pubs now serve good tea and coffee and a vast selection of soft drinks.

“They are comfortable places to relax, offer value food and have clean toilet facilities.”

Accountancy and business recovery experts, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has forecast that, conservatively, 6,000 more pubs will shut by 2012, while CAMRA, which has been campaigning for real ale, pubs and drinkers since 1971, claims it is a frightening reality that at least 56 pubs are closing in Britain each month.

It says the majority of those pubs are not high street chain pubs or theme bars but community pubs at the heart of conurbations that may just be small villages.

It says: “Nothing can match the British pub for its services and atmosphere.”

GEM reports that the latest figures show that the dangers of driving when tired and losing concentration reveal that driver fatigue is a factor in one-fifth of road crahses, resulting in around 300 deaths each year.

GEM is urging its 60,000 members to plan their journeys in a manner that allows the opportunity to stop at a welcoming inn, rather than a crowded motorway service area.

Mr Williams said: “You will never know what wonderful treasures you may discover unless you take the opportunity to drive a mile or two off the motorway or trunk road.

“It could be a great motivation to take that essential break that makes everyone a safer driver.”

Detailed information on the problem of driver fatigue can be found in the motoring advice section on the GEM Motoring Assist website, www.motoringassist.com.

The organisation also publishes a series of free booklets on safer motoring and road usage. A full list is available on the website.