Three second-half goals for Jim Harvey's side made it three wins out of four for the Shrimps, who just missed out on clinching a Conference play-off spot last season.
Crawley did the double over the Shrimps last term but they never looked likely to repeat that feat on this occasion and had it not been for some superb saves from goalkeeper Phil Smith the Reds could have lost by an even greater margin.
Smith saved superbly from Michael Twiss and Garry Thompson in the first period to make sure the sides turned round level.
But he then went on to blot his copybook with a disastrous mistake to gift Morecambe the opening goal after 54 minutes.
A long clearance should have been cleared by Smith but his short attempted pass to his own defender fell straight to Twiss and the Shrimps' star striker gleefully stroked home for his first goal of the season.
Crawley then pushed the self destruct button again 11 minutes later when they failed to clear their lines. Smith was left stranded out of his goal again after confusion in the back four and Wayne Curtis' goalbound shot was slotted home by Thompson.
Those two goals may have been gifts but there was nothing lucky about Morecambe's third from Thompson. Twiss played him through and Thompson produced a stunning volley that flew past Smith and into the top right hand corner.
Crawley, now without a goal in their opening four games, produced few threats with strikers Danny Ekoku and Steve Burton largely isolated due to a lack of quality service.
When they did threaten to breakthrough they came up against Morecambe's in-form keeper Ryan Robinson who again showed his promise to keep his third clean sheet in four games.
In the first half he spread himself well to block an Ekoku shot with his legs but his best stop came in the closing minutes with a stunning save to keep out Jamie Cade's close-range overhead kick.
Crawley's brightest period came at the start of the second half with Richard Hodgson seeing a shot beaten down by the excellent David Perkins and Simon Wormull firing a right-foot effort well over from 25 yards out.
Ben Judge volleyed high and wide in the final stages before the pattern of the game changed significantly in the final few minutes, largely due to some erratic refereeing which saw Morecambe's Lee Dodgson and Crawley's Lee Blackburn sent off for relatively minor offences.
Morecambe boss Harvey said: "We're all still scrapping for points but we looked good today.
"If we had shown a bit more composure in front of goal we could have made things a bit easier for ourselves but I'm happy with the performance and of course the win.''
Crawley boss Francis Vines added: "When we score our first goal I'm sure things will turn around but we didn't help ourselves today and we will improve on Monday against Stevenage.''
Crawley did the double over the Shrimps last term but they never looked likely to repeat that feat on this occasion and had it not been for some superb saves from goalkeeper Phil Smith the Reds could have lost by an even greater margin.
Smith saved superbly from Michael Twiss and Garry Thompson in the first period to make sure the sides turned round level.
But he then went on to blot his copybook with a disastrous mistake to gift Morecambe the opening goal after 54 minutes.
A long clearance should have been cleared by Smith but his short attempted pass to his own defender fell straight to Twiss and the Shrimps' star striker gleefully stroked home for his first goal of the season.
Crawley then pushed the self destruct button again 11 minutes later when they failed to clear their lines. Smith was left stranded out of his goal again after confusion in the back four and Wayne Curtis' goalbound shot was slotted home by Thompson.
Those two goals may have been gifts but there was nothing lucky about Morecambe's third from Thompson. Twiss played him through and Thompson produced a stunning volley that flew past Smith and into the top right hand corner.
Crawley, now without a goal in their opening four games, produced few threats with strikers Danny Ekoku and Steve Burton largely isolated due to a lack of quality service.
When they did threaten to breakthrough they came up against Morecambe's in-form keeper Ryan Robinson who again showed his promise to keep his third clean sheet in four games.
In the first half he spread himself well to block an Ekoku shot with his legs but his best stop came in the closing minutes with a stunning save to keep out Jamie Cade's close-range overhead kick.
Crawley's brightest period came at the start of the second half with Richard Hodgson seeing a shot beaten down by the excellent David Perkins and Simon Wormull firing a right-foot effort well over from 25 yards out.
Ben Judge volleyed high and wide in the final stages before the pattern of the game changed significantly in the final few minutes, largely due to some erratic refereeing which saw Morecambe's Lee Dodgson and Crawley's Lee Blackburn sent off for relatively minor offences.
Morecambe boss Harvey said: "We're all still scrapping for points but we looked good today.
"If we had shown a bit more composure in front of goal we could have made things a bit easier for ourselves but I'm happy with the performance and of course the win.''
Crawley boss Francis Vines added: "When we score our first goal I'm sure things will turn around but we didn't help ourselves today and we will improve on Monday against Stevenage.''