A road in South Ayrshire is to become Scotland's first 20mph speed zone on a trunk road.

The new limit will be permanently imposed on the A77 through Maybole as part of a road safety pilot project, Transport Scotland said.

Plans have been made to expand the scheme into Largs, Biggar, Langholm and Oban over the next few months.

Permanent 20mph zones have only been in place on smaller, local roads, with some part-time zones in place near schools on trunk roads.

The main aim of the scheme is to reduce the number of accidents and specifically those which involve the elderly and cyclists.

The areas were selected to try out the lower speed limit after analysis of how busy the roads were, the amount of heavy lorries using the routes and the number of accidents.

Officials from Transport Scotland said Maybole has a very busy, narrow main street, and a proposed bypass is currently going through the planning process.

National operations manager Stewart Leggett told BBC Scotland: "Safety is a priority for Transport Scotland and managing speed is an important part of our strategy.

"It is essential speed limits are appropriate to conditions and these pilot zones will help us establish the benefits of lowering speeds in towns and villages, where it is reasonable to do so.

"This is the first of the five pilot sites which we expect to improve road safety generally while bringing specific benefits for vulnerable road users, such as older people and cyclists.

The pilot scheme is to last three years.