stupid! ack! traffic violation! (long)

Does anyone know how traffic violations work? Any law enforcement officers out there?

I like to think of myself as a good driver. I'm 26 and I've had a whopping ONE speeding ticket, which was like a 45 in a 35 on a curvy up-and-down mountain road. Big whup, it was accidental because I wasn't watching my spedometer, I was watching the road.

So this past week I did something terribly stupid. I wasn't paying attention, and I didn't even see the school bus. He was on the other side of the street going the opposite way and the stop sign was out and lights were flashing. I should've seen it, but I just didn't. I have no excuse. I suspect it didn't register with my brain because the road is 2-lane but the lanes were VERY wide, and it looked like he was pulled right up to the edge of the sidewalk to let kids off. Nobody was crossing the street, and I just plain didn't recognize the situation. I had never driven there before so I was in that sort of I'm-half-lost and I half-know-where-I'm-going situation, just a little distracting. But like I said, none of these are real excuses (just something to learn from I suppose).

Naturally, he blared his horn and I slammed on my breaks when I realized I was driving right past the school bus! Ugh! So I stopped, feeling like a real doof almost in tears (I cried later), and the bus driver was PISSED. He took out this gun zapper thing and it looked like he zapped my car with it--it blinked these white LED-looking lights and didn't really look like a camera--does anybody know what this is? Maybe it was a camera afterall.

So I could assume I'm going to get like a $1,000 ticket in the mail. BUT--I was driving a rental car--any chance that it won't be traced back to me? My sister said the same exact thing happened to her (in her own car) and a ticket never showed up for her to pay. The plates were from a different state than I was driving in. Maybe it depends on luck.

I feel terrible for being so irresponsible, but at the same time of course I really don't want a ticket that I can't afford! I should've just kept on driving; he wouldn't have zapped my car, I can still feel like a idiot, and by the time I stopped I was already past the bus anyway! Boy was I lucky no cops were around. I haven't had to deal with driving around with school buses since I moved from NY 3 years ago. Where I live now, I never encounter school buses!

As you can tell, I'm still beating myself up about this even though it's now out of my hands. Anybody have insight or experience? Sorry this was so long!