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?

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. Misreading: 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.

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. Misreading: 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.

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. Misreading: 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.