diff --git a/src/Dispatcher/CharCountBased.php b/src/Dispatcher/CharCountBased.php
index 79a803a..131cca1 100644
--- a/src/Dispatcher/CharCountBased.php
+++ b/src/Dispatcher/CharCountBased.php
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\Matched;
 
 use function assert;
 use function end;
+use function preg_match;
 
 /** @final */
 class CharCountBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ class CharCountBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
         foreach ($routeData as $data) {
             assert(isset($data['suffix']));
 
-            if ($this->matchRoute($data['regex'], $uri . $data['suffix'], $matches) !== 1) {
+            if (preg_match($data['regex'], $uri . $data['suffix'], $matches) !== 1) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Dispatcher/GroupCountBased.php b/src/Dispatcher/GroupCountBased.php
index 9dc3546..2448904 100644
--- a/src/Dispatcher/GroupCountBased.php
+++ b/src/Dispatcher/GroupCountBased.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ namespace FastRoute\Dispatcher;
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\Matched;
 
 use function count;
+use function preg_match;
 
 /** @final */
 class GroupCountBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ class GroupCountBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
     protected function dispatchVariableRoute(array $routeData, string $uri): ?Matched
     {
         foreach ($routeData as $data) {
-            if ($this->matchRoute($data['regex'], $uri, $matches) !== 1) {
+            if (preg_match($data['regex'], $uri, $matches) !== 1) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Dispatcher/GroupPosBased.php b/src/Dispatcher/GroupPosBased.php
index b78be01..d2eebf5 100644
--- a/src/Dispatcher/GroupPosBased.php
+++ b/src/Dispatcher/GroupPosBased.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ namespace FastRoute\Dispatcher;
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\Matched;
 
 use function assert;
+use function preg_match;
 
 /** @final */
 class GroupPosBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ class GroupPosBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
     protected function dispatchVariableRoute(array $routeData, string $uri): ?Matched
     {
         foreach ($routeData as $data) {
-            if ($this->matchRoute($data['regex'], $uri, $matches) !== 1) {
+            if (preg_match($data['regex'], $uri, $matches) !== 1) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Dispatcher/MarkBased.php b/src/Dispatcher/MarkBased.php
index be30558..bef8297 100644
--- a/src/Dispatcher/MarkBased.php
+++ b/src/Dispatcher/MarkBased.php
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ namespace FastRoute\Dispatcher;
 
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\Matched;
 
+use function preg_match;
+
 /** @final */
 class MarkBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
 {
@@ -12,7 +14,7 @@ class MarkBased extends RegexBasedAbstract
     protected function dispatchVariableRoute(array $routeData, string $uri): ?Matched
     {
         foreach ($routeData as $data) {
-            if ($this->matchRoute($data['regex'], $uri, $matches) !== 1) {
+            if (preg_match($data['regex'], $uri, $matches) !== 1) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Dispatcher/RegexBasedAbstract.php b/src/Dispatcher/RegexBasedAbstract.php
index 74de790..9dce400 100644
--- a/src/Dispatcher/RegexBasedAbstract.php
+++ b/src/Dispatcher/RegexBasedAbstract.php
@@ -8,11 +8,6 @@ use FastRoute\Dispatcher;
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\Matched;
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\MethodNotAllowed;
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\NotMatched;
-use RuntimeException;
-
-use function preg_last_error_msg;
-use function preg_match;
-use function sprintf;
 
 /**
  * @internal
@@ -40,26 +35,6 @@ abstract class RegexBasedAbstract implements Dispatcher
     /** @param DynamicRouteChunks $routeData */
     abstract protected function dispatchVariableRoute(array $routeData, string $uri): ?Matched;
 
-    /**
-     * Matches a route regex, distinguishing a genuine "no match" (preg_match()
-     * returns 0) from a PCRE engine failure such as PREG_BACKTRACK_LIMIT_ERROR
-     * (returns false), which would otherwise fail unrelated routes sharing the
-     * same combined regex chunk.
-     *
-     * @param array<int|string, mixed>|null $matches
-     */
-    protected function matchRoute(string $regex, string $subject, ?array &$matches = null): int
-    {
-        $result = preg_match($regex, $subject, $matches);
-        if ($result === false) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(
-                sprintf('Regex matching failed for "%s": %s', $regex, preg_last_error_msg()),
-            );
-        }
-
-        return $result;
-    }
-
     public function dispatch(string $httpMethod, string $uri): Matched|NotMatched|MethodNotAllowed
     {
         if (isset($this->staticRouteMap[$httpMethod][$uri])) {
diff --git a/test/Dispatcher/DispatcherTestCase.php b/test/Dispatcher/DispatcherTestCase.php
index 2d8cfcf..ba45688 100644
--- a/test/Dispatcher/DispatcherTestCase.php
+++ b/test/Dispatcher/DispatcherTestCase.php
@@ -13,11 +13,8 @@ use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\MethodNotAllowed;
 use FastRoute\Dispatcher\Result\NotMatched;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes as PHPUnit;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
-use RuntimeException;
 
 use function FastRoute\simpleDispatcher;
-use function ini_set;
-use function str_repeat;
 
 /** @phpstan-import-type ExtraParameters from DataGenerator */
 abstract class DispatcherTestCase extends TestCase
@@ -180,36 +177,6 @@ abstract class DispatcherTestCase extends TestCase
         }, $this->generateDispatcherOptions());
     }
 
-    /**
-     * A PCRE engine failure must surface instead of being reported as
-     * NOT_FOUND for an unrelated route in the same combined regex chunk.
-     *
-     * @see https://github.com/nikic/FastRoute/issues/167
-     */
-    #[PHPUnit\Test]
-    public function regexEngineFailureIsNotSilentlyTreatedAsNotFound(): void
-    {
-        $previousLimit = ini_set('pcre.backtrack_limit', '1000');
-        self::assertNotFalse($previousLimit, 'Unable to lower pcre.backtrack_limit for this test');
-
-        try {
-            $this->expectException(RuntimeException::class);
-            $this->expectExceptionMessageMatches('/Backtrack limit exhausted/');
-
-            $dispatcher = simpleDispatcher(static function (ConfigureRoutes $r): void {
-                // Catastrophically backtracking pattern.
-                $r->addRoute('GET', '/{p:(?:a?a?)*}/complicated', 'complicated_pattern');
-                // Cheap route in the same chunk: it would match on its own, but the
-                // chunk's preg_match() call fails.
-                $r->addRoute('GET', '/{p:a+}', 'cheap_route');
-            }, $this->generateDispatcherOptions());
-
-            $dispatcher->dispatch('GET', '/' . str_repeat('a', 30));
-        } finally {
-            ini_set('pcre.backtrack_limit', $previousLimit);
-        }
-    }
-
     /** @return iterable<string, array{0: string, 1: string, 2: Closure(ConfigureRoutes):void, 3: string, 4?: array<string, string>}> */
     public static function provideFoundDispatchCases(): iterable
     {