diff --git a/simgear/misc/sg_path.cxx b/simgear/misc/sg_path.cxx
index e0572e19..6c619452 100644
--- a/simgear/misc/sg_path.cxx
+++ b/simgear/misc/sg_path.cxx
@@ -312,13 +312,20 @@ void SGPath::validate() const
     return;
   }
 
+  if (path.empty()) {
+	  _exists = false;
+	  return;
+  }
+
 #ifdef _WIN32
   struct _stat buf ;
-
   bool remove_trailing = false;
-  if ( path.length() > 1 && path[path.length()-1] == '/' )
-      remove_trailing=true;
-  if (_stat (path.substr(0,remove_trailing?path.length()-1:path.length()).c_str(), &buf ) < 0) {
+  string statPath(path);
+  if ((path.length() > 1) && (path.back() == '/')) {
+	  statPath.pop_back();
+  }
+      
+  if (_stat(statPath.c_str(), &buf ) < 0) {
     _exists = false;
   } else {
     _exists = true;