You're on a freeway approaching an exit. Your lane is separated from the lane to your left by a dotted white line (short dashes placed closer together than a broken line). What is this dotted line telling you?
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A.
You may not change lanes for the next 500 feet.
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B.
You must yield to traffic in the lane to your left.
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C.
Your lane will not continue on the same route. Correct
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D.
It's a standard lane divider; nothing about your lane is changing.
The answer is "Your lane will not continue on the same route."
When a dotted white line appears before an exit ramp or intersection, it tells you that the lane you are traveling in will not continue on the same route, such as a right-turn-only lane or an exit-only lane on the freeway. Read the closer-together dashes as a warning that your lane is about to leave the route. The pull toward B comes from carrying over the dotted line's entrance-ramp meaning, where it signals you are entering the freeway and must merge into traffic, and applying it on an exit approach, where the line's message is instead that the lane will not continue.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. You may not change lanes for the next 500 feet.
A no-lane-change zone is marked by a double solid white line, usually accompanied by a sign prohibiting lane changes for a certain distance. Crossing a dotted line is permitted with caution. This answer confuses the dotted white line with the double solid white line, which the manual says is usually accompanied by a sign prohibiting lane changes for a certain distance.
B. You must yield to traffic in the lane to your left.
The dotted line carries a merge message only at a freeway entrance ramp, where it tells you that you are entering the freeway and must merge into traffic. On an exit approach it warns that your lane is leaving the route; it creates no duty to yield to the lane on your left. This answer applies the entrance-ramp meaning of the dotted line (entering the freeway and must merge into traffic) to an exit approach, where it instead means the lane will not continue on the same route.
D. It's a standard lane divider; nothing about your lane is changing.
A regular broken white line is what separates ordinary lanes going the same direction. The dotted line's closer-together dashes are a different marking: before an exit, they warn that your lane will not continue on the same route. This answer confuses the dotted white line with the broken white line that separates same-direction lanes, missing that the closer-together dashes warn the lane will not continue on the same route.
This question tests your knowledge of Road Markings in Oregon. Source: Oregon Driver Manual, "Pavement Markings," p.24..
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