One thing to note is that, not only can taxes be made progressive, liability insurance is likely regressive considering higher paying jobs are more likely to be remote.
I'd agree with this in a vacuum, but unfortunately the state of infrastructure in the United States[1] is such that most people--especially lower-income folks--need to drive to work, the grocery store, to ferry kids to/from school, &c. This isn't a good situation, but it's the reality at the moment. Moral "oughts" like you're providing really only hold weight if a person has a realistic alternative, imo.
[1] I'm not sure the situation in other countries.
The infrastructure problem would get figured out more quickly if people were jailed for driving without sufficient funds to compensate people in case of an accident.
The status quo is to require all other road users to take the losses from impoverished drivers which is as equally “unfair” as your sob story.
