"The pass rate in that first year was something like 20 per cent so we have come a long way," she said. "The push to make restricted licence tests harder has been successful."
Ms Keeley said she believed the test did not need to be made harder.
"The test is now where it needs to be. All we have done is bring the standard up to the same standard that was expected by other developed countries like Australia and Europe.
"Our standard was just so low that now it has been raised it seems difficult."
Ms Keeley said she had some concerns however, about the full licence test.
"The problem is that some of the people sitting the full licence test did the very old restricted test which was quite easy so they may not have ever sat a very rigorous test," she said. "Whereas for the ones who are sitting the new restricted, the full licence is just the final brush up."
Across the country, learner drivers who sat their restricted test passed at a rate of 58 per cent in March this year. This was a substantial increase from the pass rate of 38 per cent in March 2012.
AA Driving School general manager Nigel Clark said changes to the restricted licence test had had a positive outcome.
"Firstly the age was changed, so it was 15 and now it is 16. This is good because young people definitely develop better skills as they get older.
"And the test being harder means more people are taking professional instruction because they won't pass unless they do. That means you have people being taught in a better way. We are teaching three times more people per week than we were doing in 2012," he said.
Mr Clark said the figures were in fact, unfair to younger people as the pass rates for people from 16 to 20 were substantially higher than their older counterparts.
The pass rate for 55-59 year olds was 32 per cent while the pass rate for 18 year-olds was 57 per cent and was 60 per cent for 19 year-olds in March this year.