Car Accident Knocks Out D.M.V. Computer System May 1, 2012, 1:31 pm The state's Department of Motor Vehicles computer system was briefly paralyzed on Tuesday morning after a car accident upstate damaged the agency's computer server, making first-of-the-month lines at the agency's offices even longer than usual. At 8:15 a.m., a car struck a transformer in Menands, five miles north of Albany, and shut down an Internet server used by 86 offices, according to a department spokeswoman, Jackie McGinnis. By 9 a.m., the agency's central office had gotten power back, but computer systems throughout the state remained down. Ms. McGinnis said that workers at the agency's offices around the state remained open, answered questions they could handle manually and encouraged visitors to the agency to wait for computers to return. By 10:20 a.m., the server was fixed, Internet had returned and the offices were able to start serving customers again.