Bad gig drivers moral conundrum

Struggling to make ends meet isn’t an excuse to be a danger to other people.

Check engine light? That's fine, if it goes wrong it's just him. The high beams are dangerous, inconsiderate and just a dick move, but also something that could be done by mistake.

Flagrantly violating traffic control signs is dangerous to him, anyone in his vehicle, other drivers, and random passerbys. That's a pretty big no-no, and worth reporting in the harshest terms on its own.

Would you have wanted previous riders to have reported that behavior before you got in the car? If you knew they were going to drive like that would you still have picked them as a driver?
If not, why would you let someone else be in the same situation you would take steps to avoid?

You should have told him to pull over to let you out, not paid him, and reported him. Bonus points to have recorded evidence first.

Assholes like this, regardless of their current situation, hard times or not, should not be allowed to continue doing this. If I go into work, and push code into production without reviews and approvals, I lose my job or at least get reprimanded. Nothing excuses the behavior you've described.

It sounds like he's a legitimate danger to others on the road. I wouldn't let that go unreported. Think about it like this: If you do nothing, and then later read that he hit someone and hurt or killed them, will you feel guilty about not saying anything?

I tipped him well

I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be sarcasm, but if not you were encouraging his bad behaviour.

One of these day he'll kill someone, and that someone could be the sole breadwinner of a struggling household. Struggling to make ends meet is really no excuse for dangerous driving. Besides, that check engine light isn't a good indicator of someone's financial status. They can be oblivious, not willing to take time out to have it checked, know what's the issue is but chose to ignore it, or simply not care about maintenance of the car.

I'd say report it.

As many others here said, the struggle of making ends meet right now doesn't take precedence over the safety of others. Nothing about this drivers situation necessitates being a genuine threat to others on the road. Besides, I'd suspect that whatever service he works for doesn't care enough to fire him over your report. Likeliest case, nothing comes from it until multiple reports, and even then it's probably a slap on the wrist. Even if consistent behaviour leads to him being let go, he just swaps to a different, underpaid crime of a service.

And consider, what is the best and worst case for choosing to say something or do nothing? Best case scenario for speaking up, either a verbal reprimand or being forced to swap to a different company results in him reconsidering the way he drives. Worst case, it forces him out of the business altogether and he's off the road. Meanwhile, if you choose to do nothing, the best case is he continues to drive without issue, and the worst case is someone literally dies.

It sounds like he’s going to get someone seriously injured or killed.

The question is even more fraught than you might have considered.

What if you report them to your rideshare company and they do nothing?

As a passenger of a private vehicle where you observe or experience dangerous behaviour, are you required or obligated to report the behaviour to the police?

What if that driver came to collect your teenage child?

I don't envy your situation, but their income is not your responsibility, your personal safety is.

Was anyone waiting at the lights? Were other drivers in small cars that could be blinded by the high beams?

Depends on if his asshattery got you there faster or not