I mentioned it to friends and nobody else ever experienced it, and a couple were even a bit horrified.
This would have been when we, as a family (with me being a kid in that family) would go to visit grandparents, or other family, or family friends, etc, often some distance from our home and therefore a visit for at least a day, perhaps a few days.
If I, or my brothers, were being particularly badly behaved we would be put in our dad's car, for what felt like hours. I have strong memories of sitting in the car, looking out of the window, and other people playing.
Kind of a timeout/naughty step thing I guess.
I thought this was universal, but apparently not.