My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington
So I was about to enter onto a freeway on-ramp by merging into a left turn only lane at an intersection, but as I was entering a patrol car from behind me pulled me over right as I got on the on-ramp. They cited me for failing to signal as I made that lane change, as well as my center stop lamp being out. I'm pretty sure I signaled though, and discovered afterwards my rear-left blinker light was indeed out, along with the stop lamp as the officer cited (both of which I fixed the very next day).
I'd like to fight this but I don't have any witnesses (just me in the car) and feel like it would just be his word against mine. I think my only defense would be because of other defective stop lamp, me not knowing of the turn signal as well makes sense, but then again makes me look negligent of car maintenance and probably wouldn't bode too well in court. Would it be possible or feasible at all to be able to meet and talk again with the officer who cited me to reconsider that situation or will it all have to be done in court when if I do a contested hearing?
And for the stop lamp at least, on the court date that they'd send me would I have to go in before that date with my car to prove it was fixed or can that be done during the hearing?
Ultimately I feel I was wrongly accused of failing to signal when it was a defective turn signal, and even with both of them fixed I'll still get the 2-point infraction for the fail to signal. And I'm not sure if I should go with the mitigated or contested hearing. I'll update this when I get the discovery report. Sorry if any of these questions seem like common knowledge, I've only gotten speeding tickets in the past and haven't dealt with these before.

