Objective To investigate traffic police′s knowledge about health impacts of air pollution and their attitudes towards air pollution protection and current practice in Anyang city, China, to explore the influencing factors, and to provide a scientific basis for developing targeted health protection measures and recommendations for traffic police exposed to air pollution.

Methods An online self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among traffic police in the urban area of Anyang city, China from June 24 to 30, 2024, to investigate their knowledge of air pollution, protection attitudes, and practice. The chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were employed to assess traffic police′s knowledge of air pollution, protection attitudes, and current practice and their relationships to influencing factors.

Results The total awareness rate of health knowledge about air pollution among urban traffic police in Anyang City was 57.59%, and the positive attitude and behavior rate towards air pollution protection was 78.86%. Female traffic police, traffic police with a bachelor′s degree or above, those who had received relevant health science popularization, those with underlying diseases, and those with less than 5 years of experience had higher qualified rates in knowledge (P < 0.05). Auxiliary police, traffic police who had received relevant health science popularization, and those with high knowledge scores had higher positive attitude and behavior rates (P < 0.05), while traffic police with less than 5 years of experience had lower positive attitude and behavior rates (P < 0.05).

Conclusion The cognitive level of urban traffic police in Anyang city regarding health impacts of air pollution needs to be improved. It is necessary to strengthen the scientific propaganda of health knowledge about air pollution and related protective measures, targeting specifically male traffic police, traffic police with low education backgrounds, and those with long working years, so as to guide the traffic police population in effective occupational health protection against air pollution.