My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of:
I was driving to work in California when the ticket was issued. The road is two lanes, the right lane becomes a right turn only and the left continues for thru traffic. At the intersection I was in the right lane, to my left were 2 cars. The light turned green and within 100 feet we passed the sign saying "thru traffic merge left". I began to attempt to merge left but was unable to due to a car to my left. I slowed to pass behind but the car also slowed to match my speed. By this time I was about to pass the sign that states "right lane must turn right". I sped back up to 40mph to pass in front of the car to my side, by this time I had passed the "right lane must turn" sign and was nearing the end of the turn lane. The part of the turn lane I made my pass in was the Boot's dots, not a solid white line so I thought I was still legal given the situation. Evidently I was wrong for I was pulled over and given a ticket. Today I found out the charge for the ticket is $165, more than the speeding ticket my wife got 4 weeks ago! Has anyone ever fought something similar and do I have a case to fight it? I have had one other ticket, for speeding, in the 8 years I have been stationed ou here. Any advice is appreciated.

