Eyes on a phone are eyes not on the road.

The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office will be cracking down on distracted drivers in Ypsilanti Township for the next 10 days in an effort to curb crashes and other incidents.

Deputies will work more than 100 hours staking out five locations throughout the township to keep a lookout for drivers paying less than complete attention to the road.

Texting while driving is illegal in Michigan, and the first offense carries a $100 fine. All subsequent offenses cost $200 each.

Texting is defined as reading, typing or sending a text message located in a person's hand or on a person's lap. Using Siri or a similar voice-command mechanism is permissible as long as it is being used hands-free.

According to federal government data, more than 3,000 people were killed and nearly 425,000 people were injured in 2013 in crashes involving distracted drivers.

The Washtenaw County deputies will be stationed at Ypsilanti township intersections as part of a special enforcement focused on bringing down the number of distracted drivers in the region.

Officers will be at the corner of Washtenaw and Golfside April 6, Holmes and Ford April 7, Michigan and Harris April 8, Washtenaw and Hewitt April 9 and Russel and Ford April 10. There will be additional patrols April 10-15 in locations around the county.

Ben Freed is a general assignments reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at benfreed@mlive.com and follow him on twitter at @BFreedinA2. He also answers the phone at 734-623-2528.