diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 51f74a514d2..1cf44629924 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -459,6 +459,9 @@ If you're using the `X-SourceMap` header instead, you can just omit `sourceMap.u
 - `unsafe_proto` (default: false) -- optimize expressions like
   `Array.prototype.slice.call(a)` into `[].slice.call(a)`
 
+- `unsafe_regexp` (default: false) -- enable substitutions of variables with
+  `RegExp` values the same way as if they are constants.
+
 - `conditionals` -- apply optimizations for `if`-s and conditional
   expressions
 
@@ -550,9 +553,9 @@ If you're using the `X-SourceMap` header instead, you can just omit `sourceMap.u
   being compressed into `1/0`, which may cause performance issues on Chrome.
 
 - `side_effects` -- default `true`. Pass `false` to disable potentially dropping
-functions marked as "pure".  A function call is marked as "pure" if a comment
-annotation `/*@__PURE__*/` or `/*#__PURE__*/` immediately precedes the call. For
-example: `/*@__PURE__*/foo()`;
+  functions marked as "pure".  A function call is marked as "pure" if a comment
+  annotation `/*@__PURE__*/` or `/*#__PURE__*/` immediately precedes the call. For
+  example: `/*@__PURE__*/foo();`
 
 ## Mangle options
 
diff --git a/lib/compress.js b/lib/compress.js
index a914672c474..33bb8f57cb0 100644
--- a/lib/compress.js
+++ b/lib/compress.js
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ function Compressor(options, false_by_default) {
         unsafe_comps  : false,
         unsafe_math   : false,
         unsafe_proto  : false,
+        unsafe_regexp : false,
         unused        : !false_by_default,
         warnings      : false,
     }, true);
@@ -3911,7 +3912,7 @@ merge(Compressor.prototype, {
             if (fixed) {
                 if (d.should_replace === undefined) {
                     var init = fixed.evaluate(compressor);
-                    if (init !== fixed) {
+                    if (init !== fixed && (compressor.option("unsafe_regexp") || !(init instanceof RegExp))) {
                         init = make_node_from_constant(init, fixed);
                         var value_length = init.optimize(compressor).print_to_string().length;
                         var fn;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index afb5921c585..86e012d0888 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   "homepage": "https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS2/tree/harmony",
   "author": "Mihai Bazon <mihai.bazon@gmail.com> (http://lisperator.net/)",
   "license": "BSD-2-Clause",
-  "version": "3.0.8",
+  "version": "3.0.9",
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=0.8.0"
   },
diff --git a/test/compress/evaluate.js b/test/compress/evaluate.js
index 2c2b3183364..21b595e9a8d 100644
--- a/test/compress/evaluate.js
+++ b/test/compress/evaluate.js
@@ -1083,3 +1083,50 @@ Infinity_NaN_undefined_LHS: {
         "}",
     ]
 }
+
+issue_1964_1: {
+    options = {
+        evaluate: true,
+        reduce_vars: true,
+        unsafe_regexp: false,
+        unused: true,
+    }
+    input: {
+        function f() {
+            var long_variable_name = /\s/;
+            return "a b c".split(long_variable_name)[1];
+        }
+        console.log(f());
+    }
+    expect: {
+        function f() {
+            var long_variable_name = /\s/;
+            return "a b c".split(long_variable_name)[1];
+        }
+        console.log(f());
+    }
+    expect_stdout: "b"
+}
+
+issue_1964_2: {
+    options = {
+        evaluate: true,
+        reduce_vars: true,
+        unsafe_regexp: true,
+        unused: true,
+    }
+    input: {
+        function f() {
+            var long_variable_name = /\s/;
+            return "a b c".split(long_variable_name)[1];
+        }
+        console.log(f());
+    }
+    expect: {
+        function f() {
+            return "a b c".split(/\s/)[1];
+        }
+        console.log(f());
+    }
+    expect_stdout: "b"
+}