diff --git a/src/utils.py b/src/utils.py
index e42fafb34..e1df22d67 100755
--- a/src/utils.py
+++ b/src/utils.py
@@ -491,7 +491,10 @@ def safeEval(s, namespace={'True': True, 'False': False, 'None': None}):
     """Evaluates s, safely.  Useful for turning strings into tuples/lists/etc.
     without unsafely using eval()."""
     #print s, '::', stackTrace()
-    node = compiler.parse(s)
+    try:
+        node = compiler.parse(s)
+    except SyntaxError, e:
+        raise ValueError, 'Invalid string: %s.' % e
     nodes = compiler.parse(s).node.nodes
     if not nodes:
         if node.__class__ is compiler.ast.Module:
diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 2ded5b73f..cbebe4e79 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -341,6 +341,10 @@ class UtilsTest(SupyTestCase):
         for s in ['lambda: 2', 'import foo', 'foo.bar']:
             self.assertRaises(ValueError, utils.safeEval, s)
 
+
+    def testSafeEvalTurnsSyntaxErrorIntoValueError(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, utils.safeEval, '/usr/local/')
+
     def testLines(self):
         L = ['foo', 'bar', '#baz', '  ', 'biff']
         self.assertEqual(list(utils.nonEmptyLines(L)),