My Dad felt that the legal driving age should be 18, although he allowed me to get my license immediately before leaving for college ( I was 17 at the time). I couldn't afford a car. Learned how to drive on our family's manual transmission 1971 VW bus and 1973 Datsun B210. After two successful years of college and just prior to beginning a required off-campus student-teaching internship, the B210 became my first car.
As a 16-year-old, I sure didn't agree with my Dad's take on the whole thing. As a 56-year-old, I couldn't agree more. I was slightly more lenient with the process for my own kids, but we sure didn't treat driving as a "right" our kids had.
Our country's kind of weird. At 16, even though science says your brain isn't fully developed until the early-to-mid 20's, especially the part that processes cause/effect relationships, you can get behind the wheel of a machine that often weighs over 2 tons and is more than capable of causing fatal injury to many more than one person at a time. At 18, you can enlist in the armed forces, get married and be responsible for a family without your parents' consent, and determine the future of our country by voting. At 21, you're finally mature enough to drink a beer. Up until the age of 26, you can stay on Mommy and Daddy's health insurance. Sure seems that at least some of that makes no sense at all. Opinions probably differ as to what makes sense and what doesn't, but there's no way it ALL makes sense. I'm also betting that the parts that make sense will sure change as one's age and experience change; they sure did for me.
To the O.P. .. welcome to the forum. You are blessed to have a nice vehicle, regardless of whether you bought it with your own sweat equity or it was a gift from a loving family member. Enjoy it safely, always mindful of your own safety and, even more importantly, the safety of everyone else around you. I'm a retired teacher, and more than one of the many students I've taught over the years never got a chance to see his or her 20s or graduate from HS because they were killed in car accidents. Those senseless deaths can tear huge irreparable holes in families, schools, and communities. I've got close friends who've lost children in vehicular accidents. Letting my own kids drive was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, and I let them drive when there was a need for them to do so, not a want. They never "cruised" in HS. They're all out in the world now in their late 20s and early 30s, doing great. One of them is still driving the Volvo 240 we renovated together for him years ago; it meant that much to him. That means a lot to ME.
Take good care of yourself. Enjoy life. It's a jungle out there; prepare yourself the best you can. Do well in school. Work hard. Play hard, but safely. Live long enough to give all of your dreams your absolute best shots. Hug your family. The internet ain't the best place to meet folks, but it's not impossible to meet good people here who turn out to be REAL, in-person friends eventually, either. Use common sense, even though that part of your brain won't be fully developed for another 8-10 years.
No offense by that.. it's just theway it is.
All my best to you.
Mr. Me