diff --git a/backbone.js b/backbone.js
index bcf8c596..d903c6e8 100644
--- a/backbone.js
+++ b/backbone.js
@@ -623,8 +623,9 @@
 
   // Cached regular expressions for matching named param parts and splatted
   // parts of route strings.
-  var namedParam = /:([\w\d]+)/g;
-  var splatParam = /\*([\w\d]+)/g;
+  var namedParam    = /:([\w\d]+)/g;
+  var splatParam    = /\*([\w\d]+)/g;
+  var escapeRegExp  = /[-[\]{}()+?.,\\^$|#\s]/g;
 
   // Set up all inheritable **Backbone.Controller** properties and methods.
   _.extend(Backbone.Controller.prototype, Backbone.Events, {
@@ -667,7 +668,9 @@
     // Convert a route string into a regular expression, suitable for matching
     // against the current location fragment.
     _routeToRegExp : function(route) {
-      route = route.replace(namedParam, "([^\/]*)").replace(splatParam, "(.*?)");
+      route = route.replace(escapeRegExp, "\\$&")
+                   .replace(namedParam, "([^\/]*)")
+                   .replace(splatParam, "(.*?)");
       return new RegExp('^' + route + '$');
     },
 
diff --git a/test/controller.js b/test/controller.js
index 316806b3..144e1ec4 100644
--- a/test/controller.js
+++ b/test/controller.js
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
       "search/:query":              "search",
       "search/:query/p:page":       "search",
       "splat/*args/end":            "splat",
-      "*first/complex-:part/*rest": "complex"
+      "*first/complex-:part/*rest": "complex",
+      "query?*args":                "query"
     },
 
     initialize : function(options) {
@@ -28,6 +29,10 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
       this.first = first;
       this.part = part;
       this.rest = rest;
+    },
+
+    query : function(args) {
+      this.queryArgs = args;
     }
 
   });
@@ -74,6 +79,14 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
       equals(controller.part, 'part');
       equals(controller.rest, 'four/five/six/seven');
       start();
+    }, 10);
+  });
+
+  asyncTest("Controller: routes (query)", function() {
+    window.location.hash = 'query?a=b&c=d';
+    setTimeout(function() {
+      equals(controller.queryArgs, 'a=b&c=d');
+      start();
       window.location.hash = '';
     }, 10);
   });