"TR" plugs are another "innovation" that someone got a patent on and then lobbied to get into the NEC. In my experience, their only functionality is to bend up the prongs on plugs when the plastic bits choose to not get out of the way.

Why should everybody have to pay a continuing overhead simply so people with small children don't have to install outlet covers?

If you're actually concerned with electrical safety, you're much better off installing solid "commercial-grade" receptacles than pretending that garbage-grade ("residential") has been rendered safe by being more difficult to use.

TR plugs don't prevent the spades from being exposed when plugging in a cord. They simply prevent a someone from inserting something into one of the slots like a bobby pin.

It's still a massive improvement.

But you can't safely guide the plug into the wall socket without looking at it. With European plugs[1], that's fine. The grounded version doesn't have that protection, but the female side has walls on the side and a protruding ground plug, so it's also safe to guide with your fingers: by the time the plug is sufficiently in to become live with power, the gap is smaller than the width of a toddler's finger.

[1] https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Cya9KVXXXXXoXpXXq6xXFXXXK/202...

Yes, I understand, but I'm not sure how you address that without changing literally every existing plug and outlet in the USA.

That's exactly what happened in Europe. The old ones were as dangerous as the ones currently in use in the US. They managed to make the transition in a way that was backward compatible.

Here in the US we did change our plugs, by introducing polarized plugs. We don't have to be change-averse.

Sure, and the grounding pin was also added. To get around that, every hardware and department store sells those little defeat devices (that you're supposed to ground but I'd be surprised if anyone ever did that). That's an instance where the reaction to a change leaves you less safe, not more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheater_plug

You could probably require the plug leads to have rubber coating on 80% of the plug material, and recess the actual contact points slightly farther back into the receptacle, which would emulate the British plug somewhat, but good luck getting anything like that past the lobbying of groups who often cut a tiny hole in one or both blades just to save fractions of a penny per plug

Those holes mate with a spring mechanism in some outlets to keep the plug attached to the outlet more securely.

Good ones are also liquid proof.

Do you also have an RCD[1] in the mains switchboard? Each circuit breaker in my shiny new upgraded mains switchboard is also an RCD.

I still occasionally see an old switchboard with ceramic wire fuses with the fuse wire replaced with a bit of coat hanger wire, or the correct fuse wire wrapped around the terminals ten times. They often seem to be the same houses that give you a tingle if you touch any of the metal plumbing fixtures. Yikes.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device

Tamper resistant outlets are required (maybe) for new construction, but there's a lot of existing housing -- some of which has two prong, unpolorized outlets.

Hardware store still carry traditional outlets as well.

Interesting, is there some image of the TR plug, I couldn't find anything online?

Found this: https://www.esfi.org/resource/what-is-a-tamper-resistant-rec...

Search "Tamper-resistant electrical receptacles". They don't really look all that different, there's just a mechanism in the holes that prevents some foreign objects from being inserted.

Yeah that's not really better at all. You can get the same protection with 3$ child-protection covers here.

The issue is exposed live voltage when you plug it in. Schuko and Europlugs generally don't allow this (even the flat plug is designed such that the contact aren't exposed anymore when they make contact)