We pilots pay for our own medicals, right? If there was a medical for drivers, I don't see where the big cost to society would come from. Costs to individual drivers, sure. But assuming slightly more relaxed standards than, say, the class 2 I had to do for my PPL, would €50 every 2-5 years really be a significant cost to the majority of drivers?
Oh come on now, you're smarter than this...
Let's assume that everyone with a job also has a drivers license (a fair assumption on a country-wide level I think). Hence, all major tax payers are drivers. If the medicals are funded centrally...then it comes from their tax, and they pay for it that way. If they each pay individually...they still pay.
Hence, the cost to society is the same whichever way it is funded. Not to mention the time taken for 50 million people to have a medical every few years - to address something that does not even seem to be a problem!
What are the statistics for car accidents caused by a medical condition that a cursory exam would actually detect? So small as to be irrelevant, I suspect.
I certainly agree with the reduction of medical requirements to be a PPL; although not complete removal, we still need to ensure that people's corrected vision is ok, etc. Basically, just a fit-for-purpose approach.