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You must do what feels right for you, as everyone else has said. However, you are right to find out all you can and try to make the most informed decision that you can.
My situation is that I had an elective section with dd1 for placenta praevia and a VBAC with dd2 (22 months later). I was very keen for a VBAC because I'd been hospitalised for 10 weeks with dd1 and felt that not only the birth, but also the pregnancy had been taken completely out of my hands, and I wanted to take some control back with dd2. It was pure bad luck with dd1 - the treatment I had in hospital was great and the section was great too ... all very positive, except that it wasn't what I'd planned (and I didn't even get to do 'pregnancy stuff' like decorating the baby's bedroom, buying a carseat, choosing a buggy, etc.)
I think that the stats you've been given on scar rupture seem a bit pessimistic. I was told that more like 0.02% of scars rupture. However, I gave all the factsheets and stuff that I had to my NCT antenatal teacher (who wasn't all that clued up on VBAC), so I don't have them in front of me now. Different hospitals have different rules about whether they will induce a VBAC. However, if you are induced there is a much much higher risk to the scar. (Again, I'm sorry that I don't have the stats on this.) For this reason, I decided that I would not be induced, and that if I got to 42 weeks without going into labour naturally, I'd opt for another elective section. (I suspect that they'd have pushed for this from 40 weeks - I don't know if I'd have made it to 42, but I had my baby at 37 weeks, so it was irrelevant!)
The thing that made a big difference to me (THE big difference, I think) was that I asked my consultant to write on my notes that he did not consider that I needed to be continuously monitored in labour. Most hospitals continuously monitor VBAC births as a matter of course, but I'd spent a lot of time strapped to a monitor with my first problematic pregnancy, and I knew how restrictive it was, even when not in labour/in pain, and I was pretty certain that I'd never cope in labour if I was strapped to a monitor and unable to move throughout. I was monitored for about 15 mins when I first went into hospital, but after that the midwives simply listened to the baby's heartbeat with a handheld monitor every 20 minutes. I don't believe I was taking unnecessary risks, and had there been any concerns I'd have agreed to continuous monitoring, but as long as everything was fine (at one point I remember the midwife saying 'this baby is the most relaxed person in this room'... and she still is a pretty laid back child to this day!) then I didn't see any need for continuous monitoring.
I also decided that I would not have an epidural. Because the epidural numbs the body completely, it masks any unusual pain - e.g. pain in betweeen contractions - which might suggest scar rupture. I therefore preferred to be able to feel what was going on. I used TENS, water (baths - would have used pool for 1st stage, but someone was already in it) and a little bit of G&A.
With a VBAC, they usually like to put a cannula in when you go into hospital just in case there is an emergency situation and, say, you need a section very quickly under GA. It means that they can get the anaesthetic into you quickly. They also like to take some bloody to cross-match and save, just in case there's a problem and you need a transfusion or something later. I agreed to both of these things (I'd had the bloods done twice a week for the whole of my first hospital stay anyway... by the end they were sending students in to practise on me!) As it happened, though, neither of them were done. A doctor came to do the cannula and I looked at the needle and promply threw up everywhere... at which point she went away and I never saw her again!
I did have the fear that you have, of going into labour, labouring for hours and then ending up with a stressful emergency section anyway, but I decided to go for it, and I am glad I did. My VBAC was great... but it was great because it was what I wanted. I felt I missed out on lots of things first time round, but not only because of the section (actually, the section was the least of it... it was not being at home to prepare for my baby, and not being able to take her home with me afterwards which broke my heart). I also had childcare problems - my dd1 was only 22 months old and we didn't have any family nearby, which meant that a 2nd section would have been more problematic than a natural delivery (I went home the same day that dd2 was born). But none of these things apply to you, and I really don't think that you should feel pressurised into going for a VBAC, just because it is right for other people.
Hope this helps. Sorry it's so long. Good luck