And on top of all that, we have yet another type of advisory line in CA, which I think is not unique to CA: The short dashes vs. long dashes.
Short dashes indicate that the lane you are in will soon separate from the adjacent lane(s) and go off in a different direction. So if that’s not where you want to go, get out of this lane now while you still can! At some point before the divergence, the short dashes turn into a solid single white line (the most common case is the right-most lane, on a freeway or street, leading to an off-ramp or right-turn-only lane). Once the line becomes solid white (most often seen alongside both left-turn and right-turn lanes), as I’ve always understood it, you are committed to stay in that lane and go where the lane takes you.
(Some good illustrations here, scroll down to see a few more.) ETA: Note also the solid white line separating the two lanes of a two-lane off-ramp (one or two pics down from the linked one.) They don’t want you changing lanes on the off-ramp there either.