A breakaway switch is a seperate battery operated switching mechanism that is on the trailer and activates the electric brakes in case the hitch seperates from the tow vehicle. You attach a wire from the switch to your hitch everytime you hook-up. The tape needs to be placed on the bottom sides of the trailer on all four sides I believe. You must have (4) brakes, two on each axle! I has 7 citations once, missing plate, no breakaway, no tape, overloaded, load not balanced, no inspection sticker, and wrong weight of trailer plates. Basically they were "fix-it" tickets. When I went to court I proved that I had fixed all the problems, and only got one fine ($75) for being overloaded. The cop was a real a$$ and made me follow him to a scales. He was PO'd when the judge let me off with just a single fine!