diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/JSON.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/JSON.js
index a61ecdb179..d15a713472 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/JSON.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/JSON.js
@@ -95,8 +95,9 @@ OpenLayers.Format.JSON = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format, {
          *     characters.
          */
         try {
-            if(/^("(\\.|[^"\\\n\r])*?"|[,:{}\[\]0-9.\-+Eaeflnr-u \n\r\t])+?$/.
-                    test(json)) {
+            if (/^[\],:{}\s]*$/.test(json.replace(/\\["\\\/bfnrtu]/g, '@').
+                                replace(/"[^"\\\n\r]*"|true|false|null|-?\d+(?:\.\d*)?(?:[eE][+\-]?\d+)?/g, ']').
+                                replace(/(?:^|:|,)(?:\s*\[)+/g, ''))) {
 
                 /**
                  * In the second stage we use the eval function to compile the