diff --git a/poly2d/p2d_area_holes.cpp b/poly2d/p2d_area_holes.cpp
index 7118766..28bd9ef 100644
--- a/poly2d/p2d_area_holes.cpp
+++ b/poly2d/p2d_area_holes.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,21 @@ extern "C" {
 	#include "poly2d.h"
 }
 
+/*
+ * @@@ Prevent spurious aborts with
+ *
+ * terminate called after throwing an instance of 'CGAL::Precondition_exception'
+ * what():  CGAL ERROR: precondition violation!
+ * Expr: is_simple_2(first, last, traits)
+ * File: /usr/include/CGAL/Polygon_2/Polygon_2_algorithms_impl.h
+ * Line: 420
+ *
+ * Note that we also need to check the polygons for simplicity in recurse_area,
+ * or this may still lead to assertion failures.
+ */
+
+#define CGAL_POLYGON_NO_PRECONDITIONS
+
 #include "cgal_helper.h"
 
 #include <vector>
@@ -55,6 +70,14 @@ static void append_poly(Polygon_2 poly, struct p2d ***last)
 static void recurse_area(Polygon_with_holes poly, double current,
     double next, struct p2d ***last)
 {
+	if (!poly.outer_boundary().is_simple())
+		return;
+	for (Polygon_with_holes::Hole_const_iterator
+	    hit = poly.holes_begin();
+	    hit != poly.holes_end(); ++hit)
+		if (!hit->is_simple())
+			return;
+
 	PolygonPtrVector tmp = 
 	    CGAL::create_interior_skeleton_and_offset_polygons_with_holes_2(
 	    current, poly);