An Alberta man is facing more than $500 in fines for using a sign to warn drivers of upcoming radar speed cameras.

Jack Shultz is part of a Facebook group committed to helping drivers avoid speeding tickets on Edmonton roads.

“We try discussing where speed traps are, because all it is is a money grab, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

Shultz stands on the side of the road holding a sign that reads “radar ahead” to warn drivers about photo radar devices.

On Thursday, he said police gave him a warning and laid out some ground rules for what he was doing. Shultz said an officer told him that as long as he wasn’t within 100 metres of a police cruiser looking for speeders and that he wasn’t blocking the photo radar device itself, he wasn’t breaking any rules.

But on Friday, Shultz said another officer issued him a $543 ticket for pedestrian “stunting” while he was holding his sign on 170 Street. The Alberta Traffic Safety Act defines stunting as performing “any stunt or other activity that is likely to distract, startle or interfere with users of the highway.”

“They called a supervisor in and then they went back to the supervisor’s car and talked and said I was being detained and charged with pedestrian stunting and they confiscated my sign,” Shultz said.

But an Edmonton police spokesperson said that while holding a roadside sign is not illegal, officers considered “the totality of the circumstances” when issuing the fine.

The department said officers tried to speak with Shultz and that his sign had an obscenity on the back. Police say they were concerned for the safety of drivers on the busy road because many were slowing down to look and take photos of Shultz’s sign.

Meanwhile, Shultz said he will continue to warn drivers about photo radar and that many people have come forward to help pay the ticket.

With a report from CTV Edmonton