As it seems many people have experienced, there are some glitches and bugs in Fallout New Vegas. For a while I was exempt to them, but then after meeting Mr House and leaving The Strip the first time when I tried to get back on The Strip, my game would lock up on the load screen. Needless to say, I was pissed since I had logged over 30 hours and was on level 18. My other save was unharmed and only the autosave was corrupted, so I trudged on through the wastes just exploring. While I taking up new quests, I received on from Hsu in McCarren Camp wanting to find out who is the mole in their camp. When you complete the quest and get to the monorail mentioned by Mr New Vegas on the radio, the monorail will take you on The Strip. Please keep in mind that I have not left The Strip since arriving (since I'm scarred I won't get back lol) so I have no idea if that particular glitch is repaired at the north gate. I'm just glad I didn't have to scrap that whole game.
In regards to the glitch:
From Fallout NV: Wiki - In the Debt Collector quest, if you kill Caleb McCaffery, there will be a blackscreen crash every time you try to load The Strip and the autosave will become corrupted. The only known way around this is to equip an Old Cowboy Hat whenever you try to load The Strip.
I've tested the Old Cowboy Hat fix and it does work (its the same model hat that Caleb wears)