Concerned residents have lost their bid to get crash barriers put next to a danger country road.
A stand of mature trees had been felled on the Blawearie Road which links Maidens to Kirkoswald.
And it revealed a 58-foot drop just feet from the road.
Local joiner Stuart McColm said he had nearly been put off the road when he met the Stagecoach bus, saying: “I thought I was a goner.”
Residents including former newspaper boss Iain Brown had campaigned to the Ayrshire Roads Alliance for help.
But the agency’s Tommy Thorburn said after a survey, they would not be putting in a barrier.
He revealed: “It has been deemed low priority and it was recommended to improve warning signs and markings with an option to install an anti-skid surface.
“This is due in part to the low traffic volume and average speed count of 37mph.”
The C28 Blawearie Road is one of two linking the Culzean-Maidens Road to Kirkoswald and the A77.
The road alliance say because it has become a bus route it will be gritted in winter.
