This week a cycle helmet made of paper won a £30,000 design award. How can something made of paper protect your head?

The Ecohelmet, the brainchild of US designer Isis Shiffer, works like one of those Christmas decorations that folds down almost flat, but expands into a circle of honeycombed paper. The idea is that the honeycomb of stiff card – tested by Shiffer using crash-simulation apparatus – will be strong enough to absorb an impact.

Why do we need this?

It is intended for use in conjunction with city bike-hire schemes. Such schemes do not usually supply helmets, so these fold-up ones could be sold through a vending machine at an estimated price of around £4. They can also be folded and carried in your pocket.

The Ecohelmet folded and unfolded. Photograph: Kimberly Mufferi/Dyson/PA

Won’t it simply turn to pulp in a rain shower?

Part of the next phase of the project is to cover it with some kind of recyclable or biodegradable waterproof film. There will also be some kind of indicator to show when it has reached the end of its useful life.

What are cycle helmets usually made of?

Many modern helmets have an outer plastic skin that protects them from scratches and day-to-day wear, and an inner shell of crushable foam, usually expanded polystyrene, designed to absorb impact. That shell will not re-expand after being crushed, which is why you should always replace a helmet after it has undergone an impact: even if the impact does not cause drastic damage to the helmet, it could affect its capacity to absorb future impacts.

What do they cost?

Anything from below £30 to more than £200, depending on aerodynamics, ventilation, shell thickness and fancy stuff such as visors. The heavier and less ventilated the helmet, the higher the price, although it will do the same job.

What safety standards do helmets have to meet?

There are reputable standards that potential purchasers should look for, most combining “anvil” tests (to assess impact on different kinds of surfaces) with tests on the retention system (to ensure the helmet stays in place in a crash). You can look for helmets that meet the European standard EN1078 – though parents should note that current guidance says young children need a stronger helmet. In the US, the standards to look for are CPSC, ASTM F1447 and Snell B-90. The Department of Transport says: “There is little, if any, research evidence that helmets complying with one standard as opposed to another perform better in protecting the wearer in the event of a crash.” In other words, your helmet should meet one of the standards they list, but it doesn’t matter which.

Do they actually work?

Helmets do three things: they manage an impact, by slowing down the deceleration when the head hits a solid object or surface; they spread the area of impact, and they protect the scalp from contact with that solid surface or object. They are not going to save your life in every incident – many cycling fatalities stem from collisions with motor vehicles, in which no helmet could make a difference – but the medical advice for the past 30 years or so has been that they will “downgrade trauma”; ie, you will eliminate a large degree of risk by wearing one.

Isn’t there some evidence that suggests wearing a helmet makes you more likely to crash?

A psychological study by researchers at the University of Bath linked helmet wearing with “increased risk-taking and sensation-seeking”, but the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute did not feel it had great merit. A 2013 study suggesting that cars passed closer to cyclists wearing helmets has since been discredited.

Most cyclists in the UK seem to wear a helmet – is this the same everywhere?

Stand near a cycle lane in Holland – or better still, hire a bike and get riding as well – and you will notice that very few people commuting on cycles put on a helmet, compared to London, where they are ubiquitous. One study put helmet wearers at 0.5% of Dutch cycle users. The difference is that the Netherlands has spent 40 years and hundreds of millions of euros investing in infrastructure that effectively separates cyclists and pedestrians from motor vehicles. Hence, the risk of falling off one’s bike or being hit by a car is much reduced. If other governments had been as far-sighted as the Dutch, this invention might be irrelevant.