diff --git a/cli/src/main.rs b/cli/src/main.rs
index 73e18800..d67667a8 100644
--- a/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -144,6 +144,12 @@ fn main() {
                         .help("Change the color of the window's background")
                         .takes_value(true),
                 )
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::with_name("ASSUME_NO_INTERSECTION")
+                        .long("assume-no-intersection")
+                        .help("Run the tessellation algorithm without intersection checks")
+                        .required(false),
+                )
         )
         .subcommand(
             declare_tess_params(SubCommand::with_name("reduce"), true)
@@ -384,7 +390,7 @@ fn get_path(matches: &ArgMatches) -> Option<Path> {
 
     if let Err(e) = parser.parse(&options, &mut Source::new(path_str.chars()), &mut builder) {
         println!("Error while parsing path: {}", path_str);
-        println!("{:?}", e);
+        println!("{}", e);
     }
 
     Some(builder.build())
@@ -417,12 +423,15 @@ fn get_tess_command(command: &ArgMatches, need_path: bool) -> TessellateCmd {
     let dots = get_dots(command);
     let fill_rule = get_fill_rule(command);
     let orientation = get_orientation(command);
+    let assume_no_intersection = command.is_present("ASSUME_NO_INTERSECTION");
+
     let fill =
         if command.is_present("FILL") || (stroke.is_none() && hatch.is_none() && dots.is_none()) {
             Some(
                 FillOptions::tolerance(get_tolerance(command))
                     .with_fill_rule(fill_rule)
-                    .with_sweep_orientation(orientation),
+                    .with_sweep_orientation(orientation)
+                    .with_intersections(!assume_no_intersection)
             )
         } else {
             None
diff --git a/crates/tessellation/src/error.rs b/crates/tessellation/src/error.rs
index 86f9593a..4f2b75c5 100644
--- a/crates/tessellation/src/error.rs
+++ b/crates/tessellation/src/error.rs
@@ -36,9 +36,18 @@ pub enum InternalError {
     InsufficientNumberOfEdges,
     MergeVertexOutside,
     InvalidNumberOfEdgesBelowVertex,
+    // TODO: ErrorCode(1) is used to signal that something unexpected happened
+    // while tessellating with handle_intersections = false. Add a proper error
+    // variant for this for the next major release.
     ErrorCode(i16),
 }
 
+impl InternalError {
+    pub(crate) fn intersections_disabled() -> Self {
+        InternalError::ErrorCode(1)
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(feature = "std")]
 impl core::fmt::Display for InternalError {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut core::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> core::fmt::Result {
diff --git a/crates/tessellation/src/fill.rs b/crates/tessellation/src/fill.rs
index 5ad6adf9..6c88a10b 100644
--- a/crates/tessellation/src/fill.rs
+++ b/crates/tessellation/src/fill.rs
@@ -768,8 +768,14 @@ impl FillTessellator {
 
         self.fill_rule = options.fill_rule;
         self.orientation = options.sweep_orientation;
-        self.tolerance = options.tolerance * 0.5;
         self.assume_no_intersection = !options.handle_intersections;
+        self.tolerance = if true || options.handle_intersections {
+            options.tolerance * 0.5
+        } else {
+            // The tolerance theshold allows the tessellator to simplify geometry by collapsing
+            // nearby vertices. This can cause a non-self-intersecting path to self-intersect.
+            f32::EPSILON
+        };
 
         builder.begin_geometry();
 
@@ -791,6 +797,13 @@ impl FillTessellator {
             debug_assert!(self.fill.spans.is_empty());
         }
 
+        if self.assume_no_intersection && (!self.active.edges.is_empty() | !self.fill.spans.is_empty()) {
+            tess_log!(self, "Tessellation failed with TessellatorOptions::handle_intersections = false. ");
+            builder.abort_geometry();
+
+            return Err(InternalError::intersections_disabled().into());
+        }
+
         // There shouldn't be any span left after the tessellation ends.
         // If for whatever reason (bug) there are, flush them so that we don't
         // miss the triangles they contain.
@@ -987,6 +1000,13 @@ impl FillTessellator {
 
     #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
     fn check_active_edges(&self) {
+        if self.assume_no_intersection {
+            // Invariants can break in an uncontrollable ways if we try to tessellate
+            // a self-intersecting polygon without intersection checks, so we only
+            // try to avoid panicking in this case.
+            return;
+        }
+
         let mut winding = WindingState::new();
         for (idx, edge) in self.active.edges.iter().enumerate() {
             winding.update(self.fill_rule, edge.winding);
@@ -1917,7 +1937,7 @@ impl FillTessellator {
                 let mut w = winding_number;
                 tess_log!(self, "Fixing up merge vertex after sort.");
                 let mut idx = i;
-                loop {
+                while idx > 0 {
                     // Roll back previous edge winding and swap.
                     w -= self.active.edges[idx - 1].winding;
                     self.active.edges.swap(idx, idx - 1);
@@ -1938,12 +1958,14 @@ impl FillTessellator {
 
         self.sort_active_edges();
 
-        debug_assert!(self
-            .active
-            .edges
-            .first()
-            .map(|e| !e.is_merge)
-            .unwrap_or(true));
+        if !self.assume_no_intersection {
+            debug_assert!(self
+                .active
+                .edges
+                .first()
+                .map(|e| !e.is_merge)
+                .unwrap_or(true));
+        }
         // This can only happen if we ignore self-intersections,
         // so we are in a pretty broken state already.
         // There isn't a fully correct solution for this (other