Five people went to hospitals and scores more were stuck on the highway until near dawn one night in October after the accident, caused when Brenda C. Jensen sped her new Chevrolet Tahoe down the shoulder of the westbound highway near the Conshohocken curve.

Jensen, 37, of Wayne, escaped jail time but will lose her driver's license for two months under an agreement reached in Montgomery County Court yesterday. Authorities found amphetamines in her blood and several prescription medications in her car after the accident, which happened about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 11.

Bystanders estimated Jensen was driving at 60 to 80 m.p.h. along the roadside before she hit the parked police car. She had pulled out of stop-start construction-zone traffic about a mile from where two lanes merged into one for the roadwork and roared away on the shoulder until running into the stopped police car occupied by two state troopers.

The cruiser was slammed into other vehicles, and one of the two police officers inside required help from fire-rescue workers to get out. Both he and Jensen were flown to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania while an ordeal of waiting set in for drivers stuck on the road between the Gladwyne and Conshohocken exits.

Drivers slept in their cars, and a few reportedly ran out of gas waiting for the wreckage to be cleared.

Some called it just short of miraculous that neither Jensen nor the troopers were seriously injured in the collision. Both officers have returned to full duty, and though Jensen appeared in court yesterday in a wheelchair, that was because a dog had bitten her.

Prosecutors agreed that Jensen could enter a rehabilitation program for first-time DUI offenders - in large part because no one was seriously injured.

Under the program, she must spend four years alcohol- and drug-free and will have to pay more than $2,000 in court costs.

"Based upon the analysis of the entire case and the wishes of the victims, we were satisfied with this disposition," said Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, who prosecuted the case. Judge Thomas C. Branca approved the agreement.

If she drives while her license is suspended, she could go to jail for 90 days. Violation of the requirements of probation, such as failing a drug test, would trigger stiffer punishment.

The medical condition requiring multiple prescription medications was not fully detailed in her court file. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation can revoke the driver's license of anyone found unable to drive safely because of a medical problem. The agency has not done so yet, but Jensen cannot legally drive for the next two months in any case.

Her attorney, John M. Gallagher of Media, did not return a call seeking comment.